US boss backs Pulisic to come good at Blues
ATTACKING PLAYER HAS STRUGGLED WITH INJURIES SINCE SIGNING
US national team head coach Gregg Berhalter is convinced Christian Pulisic will play a vital role in Chelsea’s push for the top four after struggling to hit his straps under Thomas Tuchel.
It has been a frustrating campaign for attacker Pulisic, who picked up a hamstring injury in last season’s FA Cup final loss to Arsenal and missed the start of the delayed 202/21 campaign as a result.
He has not been able to shrug off the niggling issues with his hamstrings that have affected him since making his £60 million switch from Borussia Dortmund.
The 22-year-old has been restricted to 19 appearances this season for both Lampard and now Tuchel, starting just one Premier League game since the latter replaced the former in late January.
There were high hopes for Pulisic to return to his post-lockdown form of last season when Tuchel was parachuted in to replace Lampard, as it was the German head coach who handed Pulisic his senior debut at Dortmund as a teenager.
Pulisic is first choice for his country and played 45 minutes of the 4-1 friendly win over Jamaica in midweek in Austria.
He then played the full 90 and scored the winner from the spot in Sunday’s friendly against Northern Ireland in Belfast, the first time the two teams have met in 75 years.
Berhalter believes that despite Pulisic and Tuchel being familiar with each other, it is a case of starting over against for the American international.
“Now with the new manager’s coming in, he’s finding his footing again, he had a really strong weekend before he came into camp,” Berhalter said ahead of the Northern Ireland match.
“And we expect him to continue to push on.
“He’s a quality player who can make the difference in the attacking third and I can see him getting more minutes as the season unfolds.”
Berhalter is happy with the progress Pulisic is making at Chelsea and also compared his start under Tuchel, who has gone 14 games unbeaten since taking over from Lampard, to his teammate Timo Werner who has also struggled to live up to expectation.
“Regarding Christian, I think he’s done a great job at Chelsea,” said the US boss.
“First, embracing the challenge of coming to terms with the Premier League.
“You see players like [Timo] Werner who has difficulties adapting from the Bundesliga to the Premier League.
“You could see it takes a toll on players, they have to adapt — and I think he [Pulisic] has done a good job adapting.”