Sometimes you're standing on the foot you'd prefer to use. It's easy to say he should've used his left, but at the moment he had to use his right. Could've done better for sure though.
It was a bad miss. But I’ve seen as bad or worse from every single Chelsea attacker this season. These sorts of misses are part of the game. Unfortunately for Pulisic, this one happened at a pretty bad time for him.
That's fair pushback, after looking at his xG to G record over the years. Very few players appear to significantly under or over perform xG, so it's a better skill to get in position to score more goals than actually being better at kicking the ball into the net.
Says who? He is definitely not a diver. I can’t recall a time I have seen him dive. He may hang on to the ball too much and get hacked down for it but he doesn’t dive.
I don’t want to label him a diver, either. But to be fair and play devil’s advocate, he had a literal dive in this very match today. Go back and watch one of the free kicks he earned. He wasn’t touched and went flying to the ground. Look, I’m not hating, and it did not bother me. If the US is to succeed at a high level, we need players to be able to use the dark arts from time to time.
That's as good as saying he's not a very good finisher and certainly not at the level that a top club like Chelsea would expect. I've never rated his finishing. Yes, he scores some goals but he's not a goal poacher in the instinctive sense of the word.
When the ball is coming across the goal right to left, you take the shot with the left foot. He took it with the right, but it was partly because his run was a little out of synch with the pass. He just needed to either let it come to his left foot or control it with the right and tap it lightly to his left foot. In the end, he rushed the shot. This just comes from being too eager and too impatient.
I didn't write he is a diver. I wrote he has a reputation as one. It's one of the points against him you see time and again with the rival fans, the Chelsea fans, and the media. Personally, I think he falls much too easily and exaggerates, so for me he checks the mark. It may be different for others. But what we think doesn't matter: he has the reputation in England of being one, and since the referees are Englishmen (except for the Aussie Gillett) living in England, well.
In fairness, I recall he has. The difference being that with Timo he used a scalpel while CP got the full machete.
Yea. That might be it for Pulisic at Chelsea. Prefer if he left, went to a Roma/Lyon/Leverkusen level.
Just a reminder: Puli is the #4 most productive Chelsea player after Mount, Lukaku and Havertz, with 6G/2A, tied with Jorginho (ALL his goals are PKs) but in fewer minutes.
To me his reaction stood out more than the actual miss. A lot of guys look like they’re playing to the camera after a bad miss more so than actually being ticked off, put CP looked legitimately upset. Probably a good thing the season is ending and he’ll be with the NT bros soon.
CP is neither great nor terrible. He's good but frustratingly inconsistent, even allowing for Tuchel's system and its limitations.
As a Chelsea fan, I wouldn't mind if Pulisic moved to another team. He's been good, with moments of greatness, here. Chelsea has a lot of players that fit that description. As a USMNT fan, I absolutely do not want Pulisic anywhere near a team that will start him every game. I want him to stay at Chelsea, play for hardware every year and have his minutes managed to limit injury. His style of play and his physical size make him injury prone and playing every game would absolutely get him injured more often.
Wouldn't mind as in you would be leaning towards preferring that he does or that you're not going to be torn up if it happens? I think not being torn up makes sense, he is a player who is definitely good, but that Chelsea could realistically replace and be just fine, so that makes sense.