Yes, but these games are unprecedentedly tightly packed. I suppose this frequency happens in small bursts for EPL teams playing in champions league over the Christmas holiday. But this is eight rounds of league play packed into a very tight space. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching him play. He is the only missing thing about the Chelsea attack.
all these comparisons are rather interesting but the kid is only 21 and he has years to develop and refine his game. What seems clear to me is that Lampard wants him to attack with reckless abandon, and once the defense gets fixed - CP and Werner are going to cause havoc in the EPL next year. There can be far worse things than to have the confidence of your manager. CPs game will improve over the time and the qualities that Willian has come with age and experience .... I would not ever expect Pulisic to "carry" Chelsea at 21. Give me a break. Just enjoy watching him develop and let's keep our fingers crossed he stays healthy. What is crystal clear is that he seems the only Chelsea player right now that receives the ball and turns and is willing to try to go by the defender(s) with pace and touch and acceleration .... Mount tries but is not like he was before the break and Tammy has just lost his mojo. And until Frank tells him to stop I expect him to continue to do so.
Agree and disagree. Impacting games when not fresh is a skill. It's something Puli will need to learn. While at 17, 18 and 19 he struggled on tried legs, one would hope that changes as he becomes 22, 23 and 24. When you're a key cog for a club fighting for a top 4 spot and arguably their most important player since the break, you don't get the luxury of sitting. It's a next step in his development he'll need to learn to make. Frank can count on Willian going 90 match after match. He needs similar stability on the left.
the narrative put forward by frank that pulisic needed his help in making runs is so ridiculous to anyone who has watched pulisic over the course of his career
That is some pretty incredibly company on the left side of that chart. Perhaps Chelsea should have targeted Auba as well, can you imagine those counters! We saw glimpses once. I agree with Coyote, Pulisic tired is not nearly the same thing as Pulisic energized. Also agree that's another step he has to take if he wants to become world class. Dedicate himself to the physical and mental toughness needed to bear the burden.
Exactly. His highlight reel for Dortmund looks like a carbon copy of what he is doing now. It's fine to identify with coaches. Armchair coaching makes message boards fun. But that is the real revisionism here. That said, if I were CP I'd feed that narrative all day and all night. No matter how good he gets, it is dumb to go up against a club legend.
I don't know how you could argue against the notion he's played smarter this yr by releasing the ball earlier, often one touching a square instead of dribbling out of impossible spots or getting caught in possession. This signals a considerable improvement in anticipation and discretion. Or that you can argue Frank working w/ him on making more intelligent runs hasn't been part of what's paid off in him scoring more & getting off twice as many shots per game as usual to have a lot of near misses that should eventually result in goals. He's also doing this in a league that's top to bottom a half level or more better than the BL. There was substantial i.q. improvement & that was not a strength at Dortmund or w/ the NT. If you think it's something else, what was the explanation for the stagnation at club & underwhelming performances for country overall relative to pedigree?
Niggling injuries, "punished" by the team for not re-upping the contract (in the form of an ineffectual Bruun Larsen starting over him), and being forced by Favre to hug the touchline when he was healthy and playing is the main reason for his "stagnation" at Dortmund. The USMNT missing out on WC 2018, despite Pulisic's heroic efforts, probably didn't help his emotional state either.
He's had niggling injuries this yr. And he didn't have heroic efforts in WC qualifying. That's partially what I'm referring to. He struggled against Honduras & Costa Rica. Since it's been against the likes of Canada. Why is it always someone or something else's fault for his or American's lackluster play for a lengthy period? Sometimes it is, but more often it's on them. Good thing he seemed to be accountable and realized he needed to work on his weaknesses to realize his dreams of featuring for a big club in England, UCL, and probably being a WC star for the US.
I acknowledge your restatement of your conclusions and inferences from what we both commonly observe. I don’t see the need to restate my differing conclusions and observations.
He looks like he's making better decisions as time goes on, which is exactly what you expect of a young player who is still developing. Call it what you will, but it's very much expected. If he wasn't growing his soccer brain at this point, it would be unfortunate.
His best, most creative feed in. Chelsea uni was to Batshuayi at the very start of the season. He made similar plays for Dortmund. But it’s ok to disagree. We don’t have to see the same things.
He's always made big plays. That's a different thing. Curious though, do you expect a player at his age to be learning more and making better decisions over time or not?: Or, are you saying he is a complete player in that regard and that's that?
I expect everyone to learn as they gain experience. I agree that making big plays is conceptually distinct from overall I.Q. Agreeing with those two observations is also not inconsistent with anything I have written in this thread b
frank lampard learned everything from harry redknapp and is now teaching everything to pulisic or maybe perhaps he’s getting older and more experienced and closer to his peak years
Could be a pretty unproductive day tomorrow, Three (3) straight matches on NBCSN with PL teams fighting for top 4.
Since when did Lampard became an experienced and accomplished manager that's known to coach young stars to world class status?
I think we have a predisposition to see careers/ability/intelligence as mono-directional: he's improving with age/coaching/wiles/maturity etc. etc. or he's losing his form due to age/injury/losing the fire/boredom etc. etc. I think a realistic charting of player performance probably finds for most they hit a peak then dip and crest out from it ,depending on many varied circumstance, until they hit a point of consistently diminishing returns. I'm not sure the arc of football careers always bends toward narrative (although the arc of human storytelling always bends toward imposing a narrative on potentially random events.)
Nailed it. Looking forward to this game today. I'd imagine Pulisic starts as he's on a 4 game MOTM streak and is clearly their only consistently dangerous attacker. If Bats is healthy I'd seriously consider starting him just because of the combination with Pulisic. If not Bats it has to be Giroud, as slow as he is now. Tammy has zero confidence right now.
Yup ManU going to eclipse Chelsea if Chelsea doesn’t win today. ManU has a good size GD over them. Leicester going to win as well. Really don’t want Pulisic missing out on CL next season.