Christian Pulisic did not start and failed to leave the bench during Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Monday – an alarmingly common occurrence under new coach Thomas Tuchel.
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Chelsea have been unbeaten for six games of Tuchel in charge (5W-1D-0L – all competitions), but Pulisic started only once and left the bench three times. Given the previous working relationship between the two – it was Tuchel who gave Pulisic his professional debut in 2015, when they were at Borussia Dortmund – it was not meant to be that way.
So, why Pulisic’s last omission? Tuchel explained the movement by saying a lot of words that didn’t have much meaning.
Thomas Tuchel explains why #USMNT Winger Christian Pulisic did not play for Chelsea today https://t.co/2n0RPHcCXL pic.twitter.com/7UjbJjHgDq
– Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) February 15, 2021
The most concrete explanation is that Pulisic played 80 minutes ago four days ago, so he was not physically fit to start on Monday. Having played just 234 minutes since his last Premier League start on January 19 – almost a month ago – it’s perfectly possible that Pulisic’s fitness levels are not where they should be to start several games in the same week. On the other hand, Tuchel doesn’t seem to be doing much to remedy this potential problem, so it seems quite false to put the blame only on good form.
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It would also be hypocritical to pretend that Pulisic is in fantastic shape and is simply being stopped by a coach who refuses to play him. 1 goal, 1 assist in 960 minutes of the Premier League – it is a far cry from the way Pulisic displayed during Project Restart. Up to that point, if Tuchel believes that Pulisic has been particularly bad at games and / or training and he just came out and said publicly, there is not a single (rational) person who would blindly defend Pulisic and insist that he is an impossible player to be defeated whose name should be the first on the team record.
Perhaps more than anything, Tuchel opted for a system – 3-4-2-1 – that doesn’t fit Pulisic very well. He doesn’t have to play as a left-back – nor do USMNT fans want him to – and he’s not good enough with the ball in tight spaces to use his talent in the middle of the field. At this point, there is simply no vacancy for Pulisic in the Tuchel system, and it is difficult to argue against the system given the results.