They could not defend a cross to save those points, for most of the second half. The subs seemed to make it even worse or Brent had grown so full of confidence that no combination of subs would have worked. Fricking Mendy had the god mode cheat code, and there was no putting it past him. It was like ole Timmy boy in the WC against Belgium, except Mendy kept the clean sheet. Amazing display from a keeper.
Some lame finishing from Brent too, tbf. Weak shot cleared off the line and a pile-driver to Mendy's melon.
Pulisic officially out for Champions League match on Wednesday. Small chance of him featuring on Saturday against Norwich. My guess is he probably misses that match too.
I praise them when they deserve praise, and Pulisic often does when he actually plays. People here just want others to always say each Yank playing is the MOTM even if he sucks or plays five minutes. I'm not going to say that.
Talk about tainted logic...you can't compare two things with ONE variable. And one open to interpretation to boot. If a shooting guard with a 20% three-point average made half more of his attempts, would he be like Steph Curry?
Chelsea is being cautious with him, as they should. I don't think he's going to play in the Mexico game nor the Jamaica game 4 days later. Chelsea won't let him. I predict his first match back will be as a substitute next Tuesday against Southampton.
That's just not how it works. If Pulisic is healthy he will play against Mexico. It isn't some friendly. It would be one of the most important matches of his career.
Obviously they are not going to rush him back before he’s healthy, but if he’s healthy he’s 100% playing.
You are speaking from his or your own perspective. Imagine Chelsea's perspective. They just let him go on national team duty and he comes back injured and he's out for 6 weeks or more. They are pissed. Then he gets two games in and he's back on international duty. Imagine if he gets hurt again. Tuchel will be livid. I think they are going to tell him not to go, and if he does go, it may affect his playing time. GGG may not bring him simply because he is not fully fit.
Makes perfect sense from Chelsea perspective..If I'm Chelsea, I'd give him an ultimatum and basically threaten his career at Chelsea...They can't continue to pay his big wages only to watch him go on International duty as soon as he's fit and get hurt again while playing hero's ball there...In the main time, he's already missed about 1/4 of the club matches. From a U.S perspective, you really don't care about his club situation at all and would play him against Mexico at 80 percent fit...At the end of the day, they don't pay his wages and medical bills once they send him back injured.
Frankly he isn't important enough for Chelsea to die on this hill. Any club that gets a rep for not releasing players, dinged or not, for International duty, especially in a WCQ, is going to take a big prestige hit with players and their agents.
Right. It was just bad luck to get injured, but bad luck or not, Chelsea has invested millions in him, while US Soccer has spent zilch. There is business risk at play here that must be considered. Of course, he could get injured in the next EPL game. Sometimes it comes down to luck. I think Chelsea will tell him if he goes, then he will not play again this year, and then he will be in Tammy Abraham territory.
Isn't this the first time he has gotten injured on national team duty? I can't think of any others. He rolled his ankle pursuing an chance to play in the World Cup. He still has that goal and I am sure he wants to continue pushing towards it when he is 100 percent again. His fitness is all that matters here. If he's fully fit he will play.
Tuchel press conference on Tuesday a.m. EST ahead of the Malmo game in the CL on Wednesday, hopefully we’ll learn more.
Chelsea doesn't care about what USMNT fans want. Chelsea cares about Chelsea and the players that it pays. I will be a little surprised if he is called up, but I know that it is possible. Even if he is called up, I will be surprised if he goes, but I know that is also possible. As a USMNT fan, of course, I want him to play against Mexico if he is healthy. He is the best American player. He's been out a long time and the game is in 24 days. We'll see.
not much of an update, Thomas simply said “Christian Pulisic is the only one missing” and that was it.
Actually he just gave a fuller response… simply put, he had a setback and the pain is not manageable.
Here is Thomas Tuchel answering a question about Christian Pulisic and his injury. #USMT [Reposting to correct a typo] pic.twitter.com/exvkOqdKUr— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) October 19, 2021
I mean Chelsea has no power to deny a call up if he’s healthy. And as mentioned it’s not like his injuries have generally come while on international duty. There’s no way Christian Pulisic will miss the window if he’s healthy. And Chelsea isn’t going to make any kind of ultimatum or anything like that. This injury dynamic has always existed when it comes to international play and clubs complain about it, but it doesn’t mean a healthy Christian Pulisic is going to turn down a call up.
Well, I’m going to be the ass that says he shouldn’t have dribbled into 3 players at the top of the box during a CONCACAF WCQ. That’s kind of victim blaming but also straight talk. We all know what the region and officiating is like. I wouldn’t ruin a career over it. And that’s a huge growth path for me after wrongly criticizing Donovan years ago.