Hope it’s not a serious as it looked. He’s proven this year that he is an elite talent. His only question is his durability. I hope he’s able to work with the Chelsea staff and others to figure out how to keep him healthy.
Although I'm really worried, I think we shouldn't read much into his visible anguish which may have been even more mental anguish than physical pain, given how much he surely wanted to end the season on a high note and be able to play against Bayern.
Has he had hammy issues with this particular leg before? That is very important and that could mean it might be a chronic issue, AKA MIchael Owen. I know I am jumping to worst case scenarios, but am curious.
Pulisic kept on running even after pulling the hamstring ! RESPECT ,#FACupFinal pic.twitter.com/cof1U34LJY— Tyga 🗣 (@tygaroot) August 1, 2020
Rough. Can't believe he managed to take a few more steps and then SHOOT with the injured leg, while screaming in pain.
They're the same thing. It's just the degree of tear. Usually Grade 1, Grade 2 or Grade 3. Grade 3 almost always requires surgery, Grade 2 is a variable weeks-month-plus recovery but usually doesn't require surgery, Grade 1 usually resolves within a week or so.
Bayern has a 3-0 aggregate and is playing in Munich, so this was always going to be Chelsea's and Pulisic's last game.
To put a bit of a bow on his season .... Puli may lose his spot at the beginning of the upcoming season b/c of the injury. He may drop in the rotation due to the talent Chelsea is bringing in. One thing won't change, he improved immensely this season. He is in all likelihood the best attacking player we've ever had. By a stretch. Whether he's starting for Chelsea this coming season, or getting spot minutes, he will be a tremendous addition to the NT whenever he's available. If he's not getting regular minutes, I'm not going to stress over it affecting the NT. I'll be hopeful for him that he can work his way back into the rotation. But, I'm not going to worry about it affecting his contribution to the NT.
He was arguably Chelsea's best player towards the tail end of the season. I would argue his spot is the safest when he returns healthy (crosses fingers). You don't bench one of your top players with at least giving him a chance to earn it back which I have no doubt he will. I don't know Chelsea that well, but more knowledgable people are pointing out the need for an improved defense so it would make sense that is where the $$$$ would go. And re: the National team, I am worried about Berhalter mismanaging him, and Pulisic being forced to do too much as he doesn't have the supporting cast near his talent level sans Reyna.
You never know what can happen. I'm just saying that if he drops in the rotation, I'm not worried about it from an NT standpoint. With regard to Jay's Brother, I always worry about his decisions.
Disagree... a lot. Now I don't think he'll fall out of the rotation but lets assume he did. Did you watch his play this year? He got better and better as he got minutes. Its not just practice time its getting quality minutes against really good competition that makes you better. Sure he's always going to be an auto start for us as long as he is healthy. But I want him playing at his best for us.
He’s not getting “benched”. None of the players Chelsea are bringing in replicate his skills particularly well. This doesn’t mean he plays every game, but that’s a good thing. Lampard’s rotations have been very questionable.
He made a pretty strong case that he’s on his way to being top 10 player in the world. He needs to get healthy and build on what he did to get there but health is his main obstacle.
My fear with Pulisic was not that he would do poorly at Chelsea, but that he would get hurt. Small player, physical league, direct style. With Azi going down, too, this hints at too much training, i.e. fatigue related injury. Hard to say.
Yet none of his injuries are related to physicality of the league. He had plenty of muscle injuries in the BL.
True that. Adductor, abductor,etc. But a hammy can be a worn down indicator as much as anything. Sports med types are starting to figure stuff like that out and going with less aggressive training mid season, etc. This Pandemic POS has messed with so much that a short, aggressive schedule restart where Chelsea was on the bubble for ECL and CP came out on fire was the cause IMO.
This was why I was so concerned about the minutes Pulisic was playing. The combination of his muscle injuries, the time away from formal training during the lockdown, and the condensed schedule was why I thought Lampard had to rest him more. Sport science has advanced so much in the last 10 years or so. It's why I don't criticize the NBA teams for "load management", and it's why I don't criticize soccer teams for squad rotation.
Maybe the covid-induced cramped schedule was a contributor, but it was unforeseen. I.e. I don't think there was a need to worry about the EPL last year as being a league that would cause him injury. Other than the winter break, Dortmund's schedule is equally busy.
Remember he was rehabbing like a madman prior to the restart. Overtraining is the key contributor to athletes pulling hammies (or it was seen that way for years). No denying he's too many soft tissue time outs. I'm thinking he's maturing into a more physical guy. We'll see in a few months.