The American striker has struggled to join the team since Frank Lampard left
Thomas Tuchel said that Christian Pulisic was “unlucky” not to be a starter at Chelsea, as the Blues coach has full confidence in his former Borussia Dortmund player.
Chelsea have dominated since Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard in January, with the most recent victory coming from a 2-0 win over Everton.
Under Tuchel, Chelsea have been unbeaten for nine games, but Pulisic has contributed little, having been left out of each of Tuchel’s first Premier League formations since signing.
Tuchel in Pulisic
“I can’t say anything but good things about him. Perhaps his biggest problem is that I know him from Dortmund and I think he started only at the cup games,” Tuchel said at his post-game press conference.
“It is my responsibility and it is a little unfair, but I know the impact it can have in the last 20 or 30 minutes.
“There was a bit of bad luck in the last games. It is not a lack of confidence or quality, it is just that you will have to be patient.
“I have another guy that I would love to mention in Emerson [Palmieri] who suffers from bad decisions of mine. He doesn’t play, but he’s an incredible guy, who trains at a high level and never lets the team down with his mentality. It was a super difficult decision to get him out of the cast, the same with Tammy [Abraham].
“It is like that, we have a strong group. The guys have to keep fighting. There’s no other way”.
Pulisic this season
After emerging as one of Chelsea’s stars after last season’s restart, Pulisic has struggled to replicate that form in this campaign.
The star of the US men’s team struggled with injuries to start this season and never reached the culmination of his debut season of 11 goals in London.
Pulisic has scored just twice in 24 games this season and is now out of the starting lineup since Tuchel’s introduction.
Tuchel, who previously directed Pulisic from 2016-17 while the two were at Borussia Dortmund, said he believed Pulisic deserves to be a starter at Chelsea, but has not yet chosen him as a Premier League starter.