"System player" is a euphemism for a limited player whose inflexible talent requires near-perfect conditions to succeed. Pulisic in no way fits this definition, unless his "system" is a soccer pitch with 10 teammates.
Except his ball control is not that good, he never plays in combinations, and the stars like Messi need the ball. Except for that he's perfect!
Cologne apparently want their 5-0 loss to Dortmund replayed because a goal was wrongfully awarded. They may have a point.
I would love there to be a replay of a match every time there is a mistake. There'd be even more soccer on TV! Ticket prices would go down! Win-win!
So before turning 19, he had BVB appearances: 61 Bund appearances: 42 UCL appearances: 11 Europa appearances: 3 USNT appearances: 18 Could be a long time before we see something like that again.
So essentially, for club career at this age level Messi> Pulisic> Ronaldo but for international football Pulisic>Messi>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Ronaldo. Do I have that right?
I've never been a fan of these comparisons. Why Messi and Ronaldo? Why not other youth players that may have had similar stats due to circumstances?
Yeah, these are great stats, but they mean nothing to the future. Ruud van Nistelrooy didnot have stats coming close to these ones, but I donot think anybody would declare him to be a failure as a top soccer striker because he didnot have them. So it's great to have them, but that's it. Think Pulli is a wonderful player anyway, with or without stats.
It would just make sense to rank him with other highly active players between ages 17-19 instead of two players that didn't seem to be as active at that age for whatever circumstance.
Messi's 20th year was when his game started to take off... 2006/07: 36 games 2,763 mins 17 goals 4 assists (this is the only materially improvement for the following season where assists jumped to 16). He is going to have to raise his game this year to keep these comparisons going. When I've brought the comparisons to Messi in the past, it was for those who were upset with amount of minutes he was getting last year and that he was performing at level comparable to someone else who became a great player... not to compare the two.
I can't imagine what that point would be. They were never ever in the game to begin with and the call was not particularly egregious. Even if the ref incorrectly ruled it a goal due to an early whistle, with or without the whistle nobody was getting to that shot. If it were me, I would take the whooping and maybe ask the ref to be reprimanded/counseled about var and the whistle. Then simply get on with it, the refs are not why they are on 0 points and a replay is unlikely to change that. Hell pissed off BVb instad of tired BVB might beat you worse than that.