Pulisic not playing great, imo. Maybe still getting back into groove post-injury. But I will not search his name on Twitter or forums right now. afraid of what I will see. Tuchel is gonna have to get Saul or RLC off at half. They are drowning.
Puli never plays well in front of Alonso. I don't know what the issue is, but Alonso *refuses* to release Puli ever.
Chelsea have not had the ball much. He happened to not be involved in the goal and messed up his chance to play in Havertz the one time he got the ball in a dangerous position. So I'm sure the reviews won't be great.
Alonso is a conundrum, because I think he causes teammates on his side of the field to suffer, but 1-2 times a match he pulls out something great in the attack. But yeah, he will not help CP look any better, that’s for sure. Hard to judge many Chelsea players, bc Saul and RLC are killing the team right now
An hour and a half since the first half started, but Chelsea hasn’t played more than 10 minutes of soccer
In retrospect, the 25+ minutes when the game was suspended was the most enjoyable part of the half :-|
CP wasn't bad but the other attackers were better...so don't be surprised if he's off by halftime for Zeyech, CHO or Werner...I hope not.
Not a good half. To be part of a play you have to make yourself available. Here we'll blame everybody else for not passing the ball to him, but over half of the time Puli was not in the right place, well-covered by a defender. I'm quite ok with him not getting the ball much in this one though. Had he been on the receiving end of the foul they just did on Mount, he'd be gone until next season.
I hope Pulisic does not get subbed. Give him 15-20 more minutes at least, I beg. To be fair, this type of ugly, rough game may not suit his style, so I could see him getting yanked. But he has not gotten a chance to play to his strengths, and go at defenders with ball at his feet, because Chelsea are not getting opportunities on the ball and are not passing effectively. I saw Barkley warming up. Tuchel may need a brawler, so He’s getting his ready. I could also see Ziyech come on. I could also see CHO come on and play well vs tired legs, and make a difference, which is sort of a bummer for CP if that happens.
How does TT expect the team to look good with no regular midfielders on the pitch? I’d rather see Barkley or Mount back there.
I can see Mount getting subbed at the half or early in the second, that tackle got him good. So I expect Puli to play at least 70.
To be fair, I did see CP make some nice runs, away from defenders into space, but ball could not/did not come. still, I agree with you somewhat. Pulisic does deserve blame and has struggled, but it’s also the entire team not playing well, mainly because the midfield engines are not playing.
Not meaning to provoke the usual scrum on the subject, but either CP will get a chance to thrive or he will eventually find a place where that can happen.