Nothing will help in the debate against Donovan. Pulisic doesn't lift the whole team, neither did Dempsey. They both might be starring on their teams, but not bringing the teams to another level. Impact wise Pulisic and Dempsey are close with Pulisic being way more emotional causing him being more streaky with higher highs and lower lows. Another thing that not being a natural leader Pulisic is very coach depended, bad coaching can ruin him, a good coach will help tremendously. He might be a major beneficiary of the NT coaching change. Dempsey was doing pretty much what he wanted to do on the field, and probably was thinking about going fishing while listening to coaches.
When I saw the Man City goal I said this kid can do anything, absolutely anything. It is only a question of staying healthy. He has learned to become a weapon, a sword that can appear at any time and slice you to bits. He can be overpowered, pushed, and kicked, as he was in the EPL, but if he can learn how to maintain his advantage over the opponent using his speed, quickness, technical ability, creativity, and guile, then he will continue to produce goals and assists for the foreseeable future. You cannot push what is no longer there.
@Bob Morocco if given some magical, pick-one-or-the-other option, no top club is taking a prime Dempsey over a prime Pulisic. No one. If you disagree... we just disagree. It's cool. This is so obvious to me after watching both players incredibly closely for their entire careers that I really don't feel the need to go 12 rounds over it. Reasonable people can disagree. I still think you're a great poster and honestly I probably agree with you like 98% of the time. But we are universes apart on this one.
Christian Pulisic’s reaction to Mauricio Pochettino saying he’s one of the best attacking players in the world right now 🥲❤️ pic.twitter.com/zgiol8tbKq— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) October 11, 2024
Here’s the TLDR version of what I said because it seems like there has been some confusion. Prime Dempsey was better than pre-prime Pulisic and would have been more productive in the environments Pulisic got to play in. Now in his prime at Milan it looks like he has reached a higher level at a younger age. As an added bonus… being better overall doesn’t mean one player is just automatically better at every little single thing. Worse players can be better at specific things. Sometimes better players aren’t as good at as many things as a worse player but are so good at certain very valuable things that it makes them better.
Pulisic is more emotional? Sure he was emotional in Couva when he was 19 but I saw Deuce tear up a referee's yellow card at Starfire because he was unhappy with a decision at 34. Remember that Puli was playing in the Champions League for Chelsea at the same age as Dempsey was playing amateur soccer at college.
Is this Christian Pulisic the best ever Christian Pulisic?From @JamesHorncastle: https://t.co/m1c62pQyjo#USMNT— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) October 12, 2024
Puli has a way to go to match Dempsey's major tourney record but has plenty of time to get there. Pulisic is already the greatest player at club level.
Different, Pulisic is a guy who feels that everything is his fault he's getting down on himself, Dempsey feels that it never his fault, he is getting crazier and angrier.
USMNT coaches are now like Italian prime ministers 8 - Mauricio Pochettino will be the eighth different coach Christian Pulisic has played for in his #USMNT career (including interims), more than any other player in team history. Constant. pic.twitter.com/3eKlmhuPMe— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) October 13, 2024
We now know he's not a leader, after penalty-gate... but is it worse than that, is he ACTUALLY a cancer in a locker room?!
Pulisic with another assist last night to get to 17. He's now passed Eddie Lewis and Eric Wynalda into sole possession of 6th place on the career assists list. He just turned 26. Next up on the list is legends only. Claudio Reyna at 19 and Dempsey at 21.
After last night's dish to @yunusmusah8, @pulisic move's into the top five all-time in career assists for the #USMNT 📈 pic.twitter.com/QBIvo56VY8— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) October 13, 2024
I actually didn't even remember the first one... how it started how it’s going pic.twitter.com/HTbhbFUPrq— ًًً (@_captainpulisic) October 15, 2024
I try to forget that era. especially the Argentine dismantling in Copa when he wouldn't play Pulisic until the end (if my memory is accurate).
At the time of that Copa America, Pulisic only had one cap against St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He was the new kid on the block, and vets had taken the team to the semifinal. Look at the lineups in that Argentina versus the USMNT game. Holy mackerel. Argentina didn't even bother bringing Sergio Aguero, Angel DiMaria, Javier Pastore, and guys like that off of their bench. That was a mauling. That might be the biggest talent mismatch in a USMNT gave over the past 10 years. Yikes.
Keller, Howard, Lalas... this is really turning into a thing? Yeah I’m sorry I honestly don’t give one single shit about Pulisic leaving camp early. Keep balling out in Italy king. https://t.co/oXPmnhvSrx— Dalton Kemper (@DaltonKemper) October 17, 2024 Christian Pulisic has played more matches at 26 than Alexi Lalas did in his entire career. https://t.co/f2RcEWd1u6— Kieran Doyle (@KierDoyle) October 17, 2024