Christian Pulisic has always enjoyed playing for the USA, and he has been a key player for them as they qualified for the knockout stages.
The question asked on ESPN was why he did so much better for his country than for Chelsea – where he’s struggled for some time now.
There’s no easy answers here, and we’ve seen plenty of reasons, but we’ve also seen plenty of Pulisic in a Chelsea shirt, and there are now very few fans who remain convinced he can ever succeed at the club.
Perhaps for both sides, it’s easier if he moves on.
You can see their discussion in the clip embedded here:
You guys are hopeless.
No effort whatsoever to give Pulisic his due. Always this lazy repetition of this prejudiced British groupthink on Pulisic. You whip out numbers when it suits you (mostly to defend your “precious”—Mason Mount), but a curious lack of any hard analysis when it comes to the American.
The stats clearly show Pulisic making a more positive offensive contribution this year (goals + assists – PKs per 90 mins) than any other offensive player in the squad—including Mount. He does this despite precious few starts and despite being played out of position half the time, which is no small feat.
You ask why he performs better for his national team? First, I’m not sure that his performances for Chelsea are actually any worse (I think some of that perception is just bias), but, if we entertain the idea that he is slightly better for country than club, then it might have something to do with a manager who rates him and plays him and supporters who (surprise, surprise) support him. Go figure!
Finally, it bears mentioning that you don’t have to believe all the ridiculous “Captain America” hype (which I don’t) to appreciate that Pulisic is a very good player. He’s by no means Eden Hazard, but I see Chelsea supporters over-reacting (with disgust, annoyance and smug superiority) to the whole “Captain America” thing and it blinds them to the very real qualities and contributions Pulisic brings to the table. I assure you, this knee-jerk “I know football, and I don’t rate this over-hyped Yank” is not a good look. It shows you as a parochial, prejudiced, and, frankly, unintelligent lot. But, hey, you do you!
You capture my thoughts exactly. I would like to add the Chelsea is lucky that they don’t have to play the USA team. For them, it would end badly.