Christian Pulisic at AC Milan

Did Depay have at all the success Pulisic had in his first season?

 

I'd be much more inclined to watch his games if he were at Everton. Just saying.

 

Whatever I can do to get Pulisic to Serie A!

 

He'd have to start by shaving ...

 

Well played on the Kraftwerk reference.

 

No, I think the example TT is making of "who is in charge" comes from the results and position on the table.

Frankly, I doubt TT gives a shit about British media. They don't pay his salary.

 

The problem is he's clearly buried on the depth chart and the team is performing well without him. Getting sub minutes isn't going to help him long-term. He needs to be starting and have a clear role to continue his development.

 

Techno slander will not go without a comment.

 

CP has proven to be a VERY good player (let's not forget that) and the only thing that has slowed him down are injuries and a new Manager that for whatever reason has not given him a proper chance. CP's play last season was enough for TT to give him a chance, so in my mind CP not playing is because of TT not CP underperforming.

When healthy this season,CP was one of the better players on the team under Lampard, granted the team was underperforming by quite a bit placing negativity over all the players (except Mount for some reason). I think people look at goals and assist stats and immediately conclude that CP has been awful, which is not the case at all. CP played fairly well before TT showed up, certainly better than some of the guys he is competing with.

My take away for why CP is not playing is that when TT got to Chelsea CP had an injury which prevented him from playing big minutes, thus TT started others instead. They have won with those guys and even if CP is now healthy he doesn't want to rock the boat. TT also probably has an unfair bias of CP viewing him still as the 17 year old version he coached at Dortmund. It's frustrating because nothing explains why he hasn't had the same chance as the other players he is competing with.

 

Other than Tuchel just not rating CP in his system as a starter. The fact that he hasn't started one league game for Tuchel cannot be ignored. He has literally started everyone else, and I think brought back Loftus Cheek once from loan to start just so he didn't feel left out, but not our boy.

Either the reason is exactly what he says about the super-sub role, or he just doesn't see a long term place for Pulisic in his system and is just playing him in spots to spell his starters.

Either way, CP is doing very little with his time on the pitch, as little as it is, to suggest that he warrants more time on the pitch. One can say there is very little chance for him to make an impact when leading or the other team is bunkering, etc etc etc ad nauseum, but at some point the kid has to prove to the manager that he is a better option; either in training which he clearly isn't doing, or in limited minutes of the games, which clearly isn't happening either.

He'll get the start in the FA Cup game and just has to take advantage of it, otherwise, he's likely just going to languish on the bench.

 

I don't think this is accurate. They were winning without Havertz and Ziyech, and yet TT rotated and gave these guys starts.

Rather than over thinking it, the simple fact is TT might just not rate CP or see him as a 90 min starter. Which is fine, every manager his preferences for the players they want and value. If CP sits for the rest of the season, I don't think things will just magically change next season. Either force his way into the team, or get a loan/transfer out. The former would be hard to do, if you're not given the chances.

 

I'll be a bit more cynical and propose that such "rumors" come from Chelsea sources. "They are doing CP a favor."

Right now, CP is nothing but a place-holder. He's gone to that from (per Transfermarkt) the rank of #45 worldwide, #19 in the whole Premier League and #3 on Chelsea to being an afterthought, a player who does no harm, a place-holder. TT knows him well and is relegating him to oblivion. If I were CP's agent, I'd have been on the phone pumping for a change for a month, already. I don't expect to hear a peep from CP.

 

I'm a broken record, but TT has done miracle work and I'm sure Chelski management is not unaware (they look like geniuses too, cutting bait at the right time.) If he keeps them in 4th thru the next few months, he has done miracle work.

CPs bigger chances will come from injury or obvious dip in form to players in the attacking midfield/2nd striker slots or a run of losses/ties. Otherwise, nobody gonna rock that boat except cup matches and 2nd half subs.

It's unfortunate for CP that TT arrived while he was hurt and went on a run the way he did. But things will change. No player is indestructible and Chelski is winning but don't look unbeatable to my eye. A few bad bounces and CP could get more time.

 

What do you think he needs to do?

 

Score or create, be a difference maker. It's Sheffield United for cripes' sake.

 

Well that doesn't answer my question. Who are these "world class players" on high wages who produce comparably to Pulisic but somehow still are able to force moves with 3 years left?

 

This is closer, but is still not a great comparison for CP.

When it comes to United, Depay was a clear bust. 2 goals & zero assists in 1500 league minutes. Then, the manager that bought him was sacked. Mourinho comes in and, as Mourinho does, made a statement to the board that he will not be using this player. Memphis played zero league minutes in 16/17 season. He goes back to France and immediately gets 12 goals + assists in the remainder of the season.

Tuchel does not have CP on the outside looking in the way Mourinho had positioned Depay. Somewhat the opposite, in fact, since he says there is a specific tactical role for him and is using him in that role. On top of that, CP has 15 goals + assists in limited league minutes for Chelsea. So, he's not a bust in the way Depay was.

If CP were much more of a bust and getting zero minutes under Tuchel, clearly on the outside of things, I'd totally agree a transfer is possible. But that's just not his situation.

Exactly. I'd be surprised if CP is as eager to get away from London/Tuchel as Depay was to get away from Manchester/Mourinho. And Chelsea are not as eager to sell at a loss, why would they be? United knew they just signed up Jose for 3 years, and he wasn't using Depay.

Depay also cost about half as much, as a transfer.

 

Mbappe did the same thing with TT at PSG and very next match Tuchel started him again.

Just have to be honest here - Tuchel does not rate him and likely wants him healthy enough to loan him out or offload him via sale.

So hopefully he gets out of there to somewhere else where he gets to actually play enough to matter.

I think Tuchel just wants his bread buttered which means making Germany, England and France happy in that order.

But he is winning so cannot argue with the results.

 

I definitely think he cares about the British media. They don’t pay his salary but they can lampoon him all day long and build a narrative that feeds on itself. We are talking England you know.

 

Just curious. The other Chelsea players don't seem to have that responsibility, except as an aggregate SOMEONE needs to score 1 goal. Perhaps he needs to defend like his life depends on it.

Wow. The FA Cup isn't till the 21st....

 

Well, the other players have all been given starts in league games. He hasn't. It doesn't seem as if he is being managed the same way others on the team are being managed. I would suggest he might have to do something special to change his trajectory.

 

With all of this news coming out after Tuchels comments, someone has to ask him about it during the Leeds pre match press conference. Im curious to see what happens.

 

Nope, but that's the closest case I can think of.

 

It's no secret at all that people tend to favor their countrymen, and not just in soccer. Pulisic has to be clearly better than the Germans, to get a similar shot. It's just the way the human brain works, nothing we can do about it.