I'd add a perhaps minor detail, but I've never seen CP head so frequently or so well as he did against Watford.
that’s an underrated part of his game. He has hops and is actually decent in the air, imo. It’s just sometimes his height disadvantage is difficult to overcome against a tall team like Watford
It was obviously not CP's best game but he played 90+ at multiple positions... that is a plus for him IMO. There are a lot of minutes to go around in the holiday season... I think this bodes well for CP. He can spell/start at winger, false 9 and wingback. I actually like him at the latter because he gets more touches and it forces him to work on his defensive game. I am surprised people are not talking more about how much he isn't being protected by the refs. It seems obvious to me that his EPL opponents are taking a page from his CONCACAF rivals. I.e. just keep hacking at him as much as you can. You can seemingly get away with it... usually w/o any punishment at all. I think he took at least 2 hits in yesterday's game that should have warranted a yellow... perhaps even 3 or 4. Heck... he was thrown into the side board violently and they didn't even call it a foul.
So the UK gets a completely different television feed for commentary. We get the international feed. He did have a bad game.
Wish he was in a league that valued technical players more. Brits have always had a love-hate relationship with technical players who don’t exhibit the traditional English manly virtues (read: cleat someone in the groin in the WC quarters, get red carded and go into the locker room for a cig).
T This is unfortunately why I think his future may lie in Spain or back in Germany at some point. I know those leagues can be physical too, but they don’t romanticize beating the s**t out of their opponents like England does.
His limitations are mainly intellectual and that is something that, IMO, cannot be improved with age or experience. He's going to have some great moments as all his technical gifts mature, though.
At first I thought he might have missed an opportunity but when they played the replay it looked like there was reason not to pass to Havertz earlier. If somebody has a clip it would jog my memory.
Christian showed already that he has another gear, another higher level in his twice during his time at Chelsea: - late October to early December 2019 - June/July 2020 In the first case, a run of 8-10 games Second case, (I believe) close to 12-14 games, including FA Cup final. Fact is, Lampard was GREAT for CP. Whatever buttons he pushed, it worked. When he scored the hat trick against Burnley, Lampard publicly and otherwise challenged him to focus on the end product, getting in the 6 yard box...and in the end, he would be judged on production, even though Lampard appreciated these other qualities. So, with to that lens- we are not seeing since the injury in the FA Cup Final in 2020- that consistent high level of performance from CP. At that time, his touch was so spot on. He was so confident at running at players and extremely agile. He was finishing his chances and not slipping (or missing target) or missing his timing. It is fair now to say he needs to do better. Maybe in a lesser squad, he would be guaranteed a starting spot with these inconsistent performances. He's not playing badly....but he's not playing to what he is capable of. If he were, he would be irreplaceable in the lineup (and Lampard was starting him all the time) As others have said, it is probably better anyway that he doesn't start every game. This way, he won't get the fatigue/stress problems again, His body should have more time to recover. But when he does get his opportunities, he needs to return to the sharpness in all areas he demonstrated in June/July 2020. It is really a mental thing- since he can not expect to start 3-4 games in a row to get his sharpness back. That should also not be necessary. Let him be a sometimes starter for the next few months and get a strong base of fitness behind him. Then he needs to put in some great performance when he is on the pitch, and this can set him up for an extended run to be a started during the February- May crunch period (and after he has a strong fitness development) Of course, the big difference now to June/July 2020 is his partners on the forward line were (almost entirely) Giraud and Willian at that time. This is one reason why I am so anxious to see Pulisic play several games with Lukaku, since I think they will work very well together chemistry-wise.
Ziyech is better in closed games, Pulisic better in open games. Having said that, Puli is improving in closed games. Also, I don't think he will ever play well with Havertz as a partner.
More "work" by Tuchel as he makes it clear FO needs to look for another UCL quality player at the 6 who is looking for a move to England and can cover a lot of ground and play 2 man midfield in 343, counter press etc. etc. Niguez not the guy, clearly and N'golo passing 30 and out of contract soon.....anybody have any ideas?
I call BS. the mental appraoch is much easier to improve upon than any other aspect....its very easy to change.
If you're suggesting the UK press picked up on Carney's comment... I could be wrong, but I believe the US and UK broadcasts are different.
I thought the same thing. I thought Havertz hesitated on his run as much as CP hesitated on his pass. Maybe if they were in better tune with each other they could've pulled it off.
I'd also argue CP was pretty good (relative to the rest of the squad) the last several games before Lampard was fired. The problem was that he was playing relatively well at a time when the team wasn't getting results. Playing better than most your teammates but still not playing that great doesn't count for much, I guess.
The UK broadcast was on Amazon Prime, and the Co-Commentator was former Chelsea player Nigel Spackman, he wasn't particular critical of Pulisic (but I didn't watch the match looking out for Pulisic praise/criticism, so maybe I missed it ) Any UK press coverage was very likely to be independent of Carneys comments, objectively I didn't think he had a great game.
Mount won the game for Chelsea by scoring and creating the goals. Puli struggled to have any impact. These scores make perfect sense. Your homerism blinds you.
Long injury downtime, not sharp, not making perfect decisions...why is this a surprise or a source of angst for anyone? The difference between making the right decision and the wrong decision at this level is a micro-second. As he gets more reps the game will slow down and he'll make more of the right decisions and will start to look more like the player we know he can be. Give the kid a minute to reacclimate.
Pulisic's been perfectly good and productive -- underlying numbers are still really strong -- but such are the facts of life at tip-top teams. I don't see any reason for dogging him.