With five consecutive victories in the league racked up and second place secured it would be fair to remark that AC Milan are on a good run, and Christian Pulisic has been a key part of it.
As Calciomercato.com write, Pulisic never stops and has already broken his personal record for goals in a single league season (10) . He did it in his own way with a goal that is a real gem: a left-footed shot that bent inside the far post.
It was the kind of goal that first established himself on the European stage when he broke out with Borussia Dortmund and eventually convinced Chelsea to pay €64m for him a few years ago.
When you feel loved and at the centre of the project, the results come as a direct consequence, especially if you have the technical quality of a player like the American.
Pulisic found the right environment to grow again after a difficult last season at Chelsea, to write an even more impressive page in his footballing history. Pulisic and the Rossoneri immediately struck up a bond.
It went from the first informal contacts last spring to the negotiations which were then closed thanks to the good relations between the American owners of Chelsea and Milan.
Against Lecce, Pioli deployed him as an attacking midfielder, obtaining positive responses across the board. The goal was just the icing on the cake of a complete performance, and he continues to make the €22m that the club spent look like a bargain.
It isn’t a surprise. Chelsea is a place where players struggle. Chelsea itself has been dire for a while too. Sitting 9th in the table.
It really is remarkable.
And why you can never predict.
A player can go from hero to zero back to hero back to zero again at the drop of a hat.
All you can do is put players together that compliment each other.
I supported his signing because we needed to improve the right side. I saw him more of a right sided player than a central one.
But he was a risk after the time he’d had at Chelsea. Both form and injury wise.
Most signings are risky though.
If a player is on form there’s no guarantee they’ll repeat that form at their new club, under a new manager, with new team mates, playing under new tactics etc etc etc.
All of the variables that make a player perform are very hard to recreate.
That’s why from a player’s perspective, if they do find those magical conditions they should probably stay put.
Similarly just because a player has struggled elsewhere doesn’t mean they won’t perform at a different club. Or under a different manager. Or in a different situation. Or whatever.
Ironically with the injuries we’ve had this season Pulisic hasn’t had many.
You just can’t predict. He could go off the boil next season. Hopefully he builds on this.
The best way to do that is not to rock the boat too much. A different manager, different team mates, different roles might see him return to Chelsea form.
And certainly Chelsea are not the model that any club should follow. A great example of a club with no direction.
Yeah great comment, unlike computer games its not only the players ability that decides whether he’s successful or a failure at a club.
Their desire, the team environment, the agents attitude, internal politics, coaches whims/preferences, injuries and honestly a bit of luck.
Like you said some teams eg Chelsea provide an already negative environment where it seems to be a band of mercenaries. However if you can pluck the good ones they are possibly undervalued rather than bad players.
I still think Puli is a bit limited physically (he’s quick but not lightning, and is quite weak in stature) but wow has he exceeded my expectations. I was someone who thought he was a convenient :marketing: signing by Redbird ahead of WC2026 sell merchandise etc etc …. am delighted to have been proved wrong
Forza Milan
Weren’t you one of the outspoken critics of our summer mercato?
Yes but my criticism was directed at the volume not the individual players.
I rarely criticise individual players (except for Adli who wasn’t one of the signings!).
Too bad he didnt choose to play for Croatia,he would be an even better player playing national games all these years alongside Modrić and co. ,too bad…
Chelsea just have no faith on the players, changing players like changing diapers
pulisic carried them one season and got injured in 2nd, and u expect him to carry on same performance like 1st season?
same can be said about bennacer. we need one more season to evaluate him. selling him this year after coming from long injury is… chelsea-like
Just didn’t really cut it with the level of the premier league. Serie A is a step down and he is playing better because of it.
Yeah – didn’t cut it – SMH at that. He dominated at the restart and was a critical piece of their ECL trophy run – but yeah didn’t cut it.
He’s improving gradually one step at a time. He used to not have quite as much of a killer instinct in front of goal. Now he finishes decisively. He’s become a better decision-maker and doesn’t force things when the defense is covering him. He rarely turns the ball over. He’s smart.
His injury problems were somewhat overstated. One of his injury layoffs was the result of a vicious tackle.
The Chelsea organization was clueless, but Thomas Tuchel was the worst manager I have ever seen. Every week a different lineup. Players couldn’t develop any chemistry. He would just throw crap against the wall every week and see what stuck. He’s the most overrated manager in the Bigs.
And the next step up on the ladder of Pulisic’s gradual improvement is to deliver in the games against the best competition. He hasn’t done badly. But he hasn’t been a big – game player consistently. He’s on the doorstep. He can do it. Will he?
Chelsea fans keep pegging him as injury prone and thats why they didn’t play him, yet over the last 18 months of his stint at Chelsea, he only got injured once.
He wasn’t injured, the dumb coaches over there didn’t want to play him, and when they did they put him in a position that he was unfamiliar with (LWB?).
Chelsea fans have no excuses for their club not playing him, they all just don’t know ball.
Well he kinda was injury prone. He had knee problems in Jan to March last year according to transfer market missing 13 games between club a lnd country. Each year he’s had an injury. 21/22, ankle, 20/21..muscle, hammies and calf, 19/20..groin,adductor, calf, muscle.
This was the concern about Puli from fans in the summer, not his quality
The knee injury was the result of a vicious tackle by John Stones in the box in a match against Man City. It was a short pass right in front of goal, Pulisic was going for the score, and Stones did a slide tackle into his knee.
It should have been a red card for Stones and a PK for Chelsea, but hey, this was Man City, John Stones is English and on the England National Team, and the Premiere League refs are about the most incompetent and corrupt refs I have ever seen.
One big reason Pulisic hasn’t been injured as much is that these sorts of highly physical confrontations do get punished with red cards in Serie A, and so they don’t happen as much.
Long time Serie A fans may disagree, but I think in general Serie A refs are far superior to the EPL refs
The EPL has a deserved reputation as one of the most physical leagues in the world (the second division English Championship is actually worse), and that’s entirely because of the refusal of the English refs to call fouls whenever a violent collision occurs in a 50-50 ball situation. And so a lot more of these violent collisions occur in the EPL because that is the standard of play there.
As an example, that studs up high kick into Chuk’s ribs might not have been called at all in the EPL if they were Man City instead of Lecce. Lots of other red cards I’ve seen this season that Milan have benefitted from probably would not have been given in the EPL.
Pulisic otherwise doesn’t have a history of chronic knee injuries
Oh I didn’t realize that Stones caused it. Damn, that’s messed up. Wonder about the other injuries tho. Many of them from what I checked on the site were smaller ones that if you missed a few games it’s hard to get back into the flow of your other teammates. I think why Puli is mostly* injury free this year is because of load management. Pioli usually subs him off to preserve him and I think that has been underappreciated by fans. I’d like him to keep doing that if that means a well rested, less injured Pulisic.
I also agree with you on the refs. Serie A has waaay better refs and a vastly superior VAR system…as much as we complain lol. Omg the calls there are just pure head scratchers and very inconsistent in the prem
I agree with you about how the EPL is more physical and the calls the refs don’t make, fantastically put and pointed out, didn’t know if I was the only one that noticed that. I kinda disagree about the Stones tackle, Pulisic was inside penalty box on counter attack and he received the ball took a touch and went to shoot it, but stones slid in from the side kinda and got the ball but when he got it he moved the ball just a enough so that when Pulisic’s foot hit the ball ( Pulisic is striking it so he is kicking it hard and doesn’t even see Stones) it was in a position for Pulisic to either sprain his ankle, or twist his knee and obvious the latter happened, but it was a good tackle from Stones, commentators were talking about how great a tackle it was. It wasn’t called as a penalty either it was just an unlucky injury that would happen to anyone regardless of size or if they’re injury prone. Sterling got injured that game also it is what caused Chelsea to panic buy Mudryk and maudeke the next week since this game happened in January. I think the refs are instructed to allow more collisions more fighting on corners and a complete lack of protecting the players in order to try and keep it as the supposed most exciting, most physical etc. bs league.