Christian Pulisic’s injury news is something fans of Chelsea and USMNT are unfortunately very familiar with.
It appears that Pulisic suffered another setback during Chelsea’s shocking 5-2 home defeat against West Brom, with the Premier League returning from the international break.
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Pulisic, 22, started as one of two No. 10 in Thomas Tuchel’s 3-4-2-1 formation and looked sharp from the start, scoring just his second Premier League goal of the season to put them 1- 0.
However, Chelsea dropped to 10 players before the break and that completely changed the aspect of this game, as Pulisic was eliminated at the break, in what was believed to be a tactical substitution.
But that was not the case according to Tuchel, and it was certainly a strange situation, as Pulisic left for the second half as normal, with Timo Werner believed to have been replaced by Mason Mount. But then Pulisic ran into the field, five meters, felt something and went to the bank and it seems that he told Tuchel that he was not able to continue.
Speaking at the post-game press conference, Tuchel confirmed that Pulisic suffered a sprained tendon in his thigh and that is why he did not play in the second half.
“Christian took a run when he returned for the second half and said that he felt that his hamstring would not survive the game if he continued. So we had to make a decision to replace him immediately, ”said Tuchel.
Chelsea and USMNT fans will be looking forward to seeing if Pulisic’s last setback will be over.
After his magnificent performances during the international break and an early Chelsea goal against West Brom, this was the last thing Pulisic wanted, as the “blues” have a big one in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals against Porto and an English Cup semifinal against Man City approaching, as well as the intense battle for the top four.
Tuchel reacts to ‘alert’ when 10-man Chelsea implodes
Thomas Tuchel lost his first game as a Chelsea manager, and his 14 game unbeaten run in all competitions ended dramatically.
The initial red card for Thiago Silva set the tone, but even before that Chelsea was not his own.
Chelsea had suffered only twice in 14 games under Tuchel before leaving five against West Brom and with the battle of the top four so fierce, the German coach hopes that this will be an alert for the rest of the season.
“If we look at this game in four weeks, we hope to call it an alert, because that would mean we really wake up,” said Tuchel.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Tuchel criticized his team for foolish mistakes from the start, as Chelsea were slow and never had control of the game.
“After the red card, we were unable to adapt to the situation,” explained Tuchel. “Even in the second half, what could go wrong after the red card. I hope it is a great wake-up call for all of us, including me. We made big mistakes after the two yellow cards. Today it was impossible for us to adapt to the situation. “
“It is not typical for us. Today we have suffered two of them and have completely changed the pace. At half-time we tried to calm them down and give them confidence, but all the shots were their goal. We had great chances and hit the post. It clearly wasn’t our day today. “