It's Chelsea, man. Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne, and Mohamed Salah all got churned out of the team. His not making there wouldn't be much of a comment on his career propects.
The problem here is that he didn't light it up in Germany either. So Chelsea is not really his first failure to perform as expected, Dortmund was. Puli has never scored more than four goals in a season (league games only, of course).
He's a winger. Not many teenage wingers have big goal hauls. If he doesn't do anything this year and next I might worry.
In over 5800 minutes of starts across UCL and B1, he averaged a WS of 7.2 for a top team. For a teenager, that's 'lighting it up'.
Had he lighted it up in Germany, he wouldn't have got himself benched. I think it's high time to re-adjust our expectations with regards to Puli's development. He's still very likely to be the best field player we got. Of course, the longer Adams doesn't play, the bigger he grows in our memories.
Those aren’t the WS scores I see for him when looking at his history. Not saying he had poor scores but just not that high. https://www.whoscored.com/Players/302692/History/Christian-Pulisic
He would not have been paid at Dortmund like he has, most likely, been paid at Chelsea. The real world does enter into this. He is a very good player. It will work out in the end. The injury to Adams, whether Dest will commit, and the injury to Weah are much bigger problems imo.
Frankie hasn't signed any of the players he is playing. Frankie hasn't signed anyone. Pulisic is no different than Barkley or CHO. Frank's devotion to Mount is a bad sign of things when he does get to sign someone. But that is a year away and plenty of time to Pulisic to move on or change his mind. Managers don't last long anymore, especially at Chelsea. Eventually, people are going to notice they are quite bad. They hated Sarri, but Sarri had 9 more points than Frank at the same point and hadn't lost the first UCL home game.
That is the conventional wisdom. But any flirtation with the relegation zone would cut that leash quick. Add in that Mourinho is in the studio and constantly pointing out Frank's mistakes. Many people in English football believe offense is magic. A proper manager can only control the defense. That is where they show their worth. Well, Chelsea has given up an obscene number of goals. They haven't won a home game yet. He will get time. But not as long as some suspect.
Exactly. It doesn't matter how much Chelsea paid for Puli. He (Frankie) has no personal investment in any of the players ('cept Mount, maybe). He will play whomever he wants, regardless of how much Roman paid. And, yes, they were crazy to fire Sarri to hire Lampard. Maybe Lampard will come good, but that was a ridiculous roll of the dice.
Yes, I've said that. And, I stay away from saying it was a bad move for Puli. It was not a move designed to help his career trajectory. But, he made a ton of money from the move. Money talks.
If the owner wants a player to get time the player is going get the some time. That's the way sports work, whether the 1st round QB draft pick, or the young $70 million attacker. The coach is an employee. It's doubtful Pulisic will simply get zeroed out. Chelsea have a lot of games. Pulisic will get time.
In a way, as a USMNT fan, I don't care that much how Pulisic plays for Chelsea. I care about how he plays for the USMNT. And since the latter part of 2018 WCQ, he's been the best US player. If he can keep up that level with the US while getting spotty minutes at Chelsea or moving down the ladder to, say, Everton, I'm fine with that. It'd be nice if he continued progressing, gets 10-15% better than he is now, and nails down a starting spot at Chelsea, but realistically, that doesn't change things for the USMNT that much. It's the other 10 guys on the field for the US whom I'm worried about. If we could field 11 guys of Pulisic's caliber, we'd be doing alright.
Would say Adams has been the best player. Whether he's a starter or not, I'd like to see Pulisic achieve good form with Chelsea. Biggest worry is Berhalter.
No player of his price is going to get benched after only three games, so we can all bank on him getting several more chances. Even Sheva managed 40 appearances before Chelski gave up on him. And he was only ₤30m.
Of that... there can be no doubt. More importantly... the USMNT needs 4 or 5 more players that are getting regular starts in the major Euro Leagues. The fact that so many people are relying on CP to be some kind of savior is worrying. He is never going to be a huge goal scorer IMO... But he could still be a high-level player. Something like 10 goals and 15 assists per season sounds about right if he is starting... but that could take a year or two. <fingers-crossed> The USMNT desperately needs a true number 9 of the highest quality for CP and others to distribute to. There are a lot of attacking midfielders coming up thru the U20s that are more than enticing... but I am not seeing a ton of true go-to striker candidates. As an aside... it is kind of hard to determine who is trolling on this forum vs. those giving honest opinions regarding CP.
Regularly playing in the Top 5? Right now we only got Steffen, JAB & McKennie. EPL: - Yedlin coming back from injury, likely relegated to sub/cup role. - Pulisic benched, unlikely to become a starter soon. BuLi: - Fabian injured often, can only be used limited minutes. - Chandler is a bench option at RWB after Durm and da Costa. - Morales has to fight to regain starting spot, often injured. - Sargent is a late sub at this point. - Adams injured, has to regain his spot. - Maloney & Shelton only play with reserve sides. Ligue 1: - Weah likely out until the break, no idea where he'll be when back. No players in La Liga or Serie A.