The curious case of Pulisic at Lampard’s young Chelsea
It will be interesting to see if Christian Pulisic starts for Chelsea against Manchester United in tonight’s League Cup last-16 match.
Pulisic, 21, who scored a hat-trick at Burnley on Saturday did more than enough to keep his place. Yet, paradoxically, the player who has experienced mixed fortunes since his move from Borussia Dortmund might have done enough not to be selected.
If Pulisic starts, then retaining his place for Saturday’s Premier League game at Watford is improbable, but nobody really knows what manager Frank Lampard is thinking when it comes to the young American.
It is curious that Lampard has been praised for the way he has handled Pulisic given he was not happy at not getting on the pitch in five of Chelsea’s six games since September. But Lampard is rightly being lauded for the overall job he’s doing in giving young, predominantly British, homegrown youngsters a chance.
So how does an expensive American fit into that? Pulisic did not know who would be manager when he signed ahead of Chelsea’s transfer ban but he has no regrets.
He is happy enough living alone in London near Wimbledon and he’s not a man for the bright lights of the English capital’s West End.
He did venture to watch the NFL at Wembley at the weekend and enjoyed that, but he’s quiet, private, committed and says little in interviews.
He is known his best friends since school in Pennsylvania and would rather let his football do the talking.
He hasn’t done badly so far on his way to becoming the most expensive American player, the record breaker who shattered national team milestones and who was hailed as the man who will be America’s first global soccer superstar.
Pulisic’s Chelsea debut came in a 4-0 opening day reverse at Old Trafford when he played the final 32 minutes.
He had a fine game against
Liverpool in the European Super Cup a few days later and started Chelsea’s next three games, with one assist.
And then, after the first international break, he was dropped with little explanation why. He did not play a minute in five of Chelsea’s next six games and didn’t even make the squad for the Champions League win at Lille.
Brought back in for a League Cup game against Grimsby, he assisted a goal in a 7-1 win but was criticised by Lampard, which raised eyebrows among senior people at Chelsea.
Did he not fit the narrative created by the manager that he had to play kids who’d come through the system – and was doing so with great success?
Pulisic has worked his way back in. He came on for the last ten minutes against Southampton and made an assist.
He was introduced for the final 26 minutes at home to Newcastle and changed a game Chelsea were drawing 0-0 but won 1-0.
He was involved in that goal and made a similar impact when he came on against Ajax last week with an assist for Michy Batshuayi in a 1-0 win.
He has been a game-changer from the bench and maybe that will be his speciality in his first season in England.
At Burnley on Saturday, however, Pulisic started and gave a man-of-the-match performance in which he took all three goals well.
He can dribble and score. His favourite position is as a 10 where he was used against Newcastle but he has usually been deployed in a wider role.
And no, comparisons with Eden Hazard are not fair right now. Pulisic has a huge future ahead of him.
While Saturday’s hat-trick was his best moment so far for Chelsea, it’s been a bumpy ride for him in England. He’s not short of suitors, though.
Pulisic wouldn’t get in Liverpool’s front three right now, but Jurgen Klopp, who introduced him to Borussia Dortmund’s first team when he was 16, retains a huge admiration for the son of a former professional footballer.
That early start meant that he had played 60 first-team games by the time he turned 19. Lionel Messi had made 34 Barca appearances at the same stage, Cristiano Ronaldo 53 for Sporting and Manchester United.
Earlier this year he was runner-up to Kylian M’Bappe in the inaugural Kopa trophy for under 21s. He needs to be playing more if he’s to win more awards, but Pulisic did himself no harm with Saturday’s hat-trick. Manchester United are next. Or are they?