It's because Chilwell has two passes in his arsenal - cross or backpass. He passed to Pulisic twice (in quick succession), but that was pretty much it and took 20-30 minutes. When players show inside to Chilwell he doesn't pass.
Pulisic had the only Chelsea assist of the game but the British fans seem to think he was one of the worse of the Chelsea players. Go figure.
Definitely an off game for him IMO. his first touch was seriously lacking today and he looked much slower on the dribble... looks like he has some heavy legs after a long season which included a number of injuries. Just doesn't look like he is enjoying himself out there...and still lacking chemistry with some of his teammates.
Chelsea need to replace Jorginho. He’s been a good servant during his time, but he should only be a rotational starter if he’s still there next season. His lack of athleticism has coupled with poor decision making to cripple them down the stretch. When they really needed a goal, they had Reece James as the single defensive midfielder.
If Puli were to be evaluated only by what he's done on the league, he'd be in trouble. He's had his moments but about 80% of his minutes played he's been invisible, running on his own with no support and outside the action. His Champions campaign, however, has been very good. Good enough to give an old cynic like me hope.
eh....when you can spend 500million more than everyone else...anything works. if everyone spent the same, their approach would be prime for relegation.
National team homegrown player bias on a team is nothing new. Partly it’s why we follow Chelsea. It’s just the English don’t want to blame two potential Lions this close to a tournament so Mount and Chilwell are great. Abraham and CHO are unfairly treated. I thought Chilwell had an okay match. Erratic at times but he was active. James was crap. Mount was descent. I like Werner and see the potential there. Pulisic wasn’t awful today. He was lively. He wasn’t great but from a player like Pulisic all you need is one or two moments of brilliance and that pass was brilliant to chilwell. So was the goal and pass that helped Chelsea get over the line against Real Madrid. What else can you ask as a bystander and not a yank fan who thinks he is the next Great one.
Would like to see CP gets a bit more aggresive when receiving the ball around the box. of course..Chelsea will simply bring in new attackers like they usually do to replace anyone who they deemed are under performing....CP is not just competing against current teammates, but future big money arrivals. I thought he did well enough today and got a stat which is good...He'll probably get the Champions League start.
I came to the conclusion today that Ziyech just doesn’t have it for this league. Quality player but would be better suited in Spain or Italy. This is good for Pulisic, he’s only really competing with Werner and Havertz for two places and it just comes down to current form and opposition as for who gets selected.
CP looked pretty anemic today outside of his assist. He didn’t look close to being able to beat someone off the dribble, and really didn’t do anything to create anything for himself. He was reminiscent of the Landon Captain Backpass days for most of the game. I was actually calling for him to get the hook when Jorginho came off. Timo was utter crap as well. Mount blew some really good chances too. So the whole frontline was shiite.
Pulisic’s game is not beat multiple defenders and score a wonder goal every game. That seems to be the expectation. He is brilliant dribbling at speed and combining with teammates. He gets very few chances to do either with Chelsea’s setup. When he’s forced to play with Mount and Werner as his front line mates (two players who, while good, are very defensive/cynical options for those positions), his typical touch in the attacking third is on the wide right wing with two defenders in position. So you’ll get a layoff or sometimes he’s able to beat a man to the line and get in a cross or win a corner. He was not brilliant today. He should’ve definitely done better on the cutback from Werner…but on the flip side Mount took a high percentage chance off of him. Mount and Werner both created less and flubbed more chances. So, again, I’m not sure what the expectations are for an attacking player on such a defensive team, particularly when he was better than his peers on the day.
i will say it: an attacker that has a goal or an assist and isn’t directly at fault for a goal against can’t have a bad game. disappointing and mediocre sure, but it just illustrates the differences in expectations for some.
CP wants quick one two's in and around the box but he rarely seems to be able to link up with his teammates in that capacity. It's been an issue all year. The runs he makes are often there but he rarely gets played on. He needs more creative players around him. Havertz has some of that in his game. I'd like to see a lot more of CP and Havertz together next year.
Except his first step after making a pass in order to get it back (which he did, followed by a pinpoint cross to chilwell for a goal) was edplosue.
Word. The expectations around here can be down-right silly at times. It seems like if a YA doesn't have a great "all touch" video then they were disappointing. This is a difficult game. You can't be great in every one of them. And as you said... he provided the assist on the only goal of the game. If that is poor then I guess I will take it.
Yeah, I wonder why they were so exhausted? Are you kidding me? They are at the end of the season. They play for 11 months every year! When they go on break, they play for their national teams. They seriously get like 3 weeks break a year. Can you imagine this for American sports? These guys are heroes.
Yeah, I hear you. Tuchel could have easily started Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta in the midfield and chose against it.
Only getting worse. Nations league? Saudi wants world cups every two years. Let the guys rest once in a while the product might get better.
Anyone with a brain recognizes that Chelsea played much more dynamically and purposively and that Pulisic looked a lot better once Havertz and Ziyech came on. Only someone without a brain would think this is an indictment of Pulisic.