Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic was challenged and rose to the challenge several times this season. He will be again, so what questions need to be asked of him?
Many like to rewrite history, but few were overly enthused about Christian Pulisic being the sole signing coming in this season. Sure, he had potential, but very few expected him to explode on to the scene in the way he did. He ended the season as a starter and as a much more polished player than he started. What questions need to be asked ahead of the new season?
1. Is he as locked in as a starter as he seems to be?
Given Pulisic’s end of season form, he easily wrote himself into everyone’s predicted XI for next season. He channeled the spirit of Eden Hazard and put the Blues on his back in many games towards the end of the campaign.
It is often forgotten that he had a burst of form like that earlier in the season too and then faded off somewhat. His injury split his season into two and then he did return better than ever. The only question is how consistent that might be.
At Dortmund, Pulisic similarly operated in bursts and fades, though he never faded as much at Chelsea nor did he burst out as much at Dortmund. Frank Lampard has not been shy about challenging the American, perhaps more than any other player, and it seems to have worked mostly.
Many expect Pulisic to play the majority of games next season, but given his injury issues that may not be wise. Obviously, he is extremely talented and Lampard has helped him become a Premier League star, but Pulisic carries the weight of club and country on his shoulders when he plays. One of the reasons why Lampard was hesitant to throw him straight into Premier League action was because the American had returned from injury in January and then played virtually nonstop until he joined Chelsea.
The American will surely be a starter next season, it just may not be as often as many want. The last thing Lampard will want is to injure or burnout the American through overuse. At the moment, there are few other options, but Pulisic will have to be managed carefully to continue this form.
2. Will he continue improving at his current rate?
When Pulisic joined, there was understandable hesitation from many fans about what he could add to Chelsea. Stylistically and statistically, he shared a lot with Willian. He would work hard off the ball and look to dribble his way out of problems on it, but goals and assists just were not in his game.
Lampard has to be credited with developing Pulisic into more than that. He began to play Pulisic on the left side instead of the right and asked him to drive towards goal more directly and take shots in the box. In effect, Pulisic became an inside forward and in some passages of play it could be argued that he acted more like a second striker than a winger.
This directness paid dividends for Pulisic, Lampard, and Chelsea. Adding Olivier Giroud into the mix gave Pulisic a strong reference point to play off of and that further improved the American. It is no coincidence that Pulisic’s best season as a professional came this season.
All that being said, one does have to wonder if he can keep it up. It is already hard enough to match a best season, let alone build upon it. Pulisic has time on his side and Lampard is continuously making adjustments that suit the American, so next season even more will be expected of Pulisic.
He already ended the seasons with comparisons to Eden Hazard instead of the comparisons to Willian he started with. And if that was his first Premier League season, his second should be something to witness.
3. Will Frank Lampard start using him in other positions?
Lampard has pretty much exclusively kept Pulisic in attacking positions. It obviously makes sense to take advantage of his dribbling and attacking positioning. But Pulisic has had many reps in other positions under many other managers and that could give Lampard ideas if he needs a new solution to change formation or squeeze other in form players into the squad.
US men’s national team manager Gregg Berhalter is hardly someone to take tactical advice from, but he has used/attempted to use Pulisic in a 10 role on paper but in practice it is more similar to Pep Guardiola’s use of Kevin De Bruyne. Pulisic lines up on the left side of midfield and is given license to roam centrally as well as rotate with the left winger.
Obviously, Chelsea has a bit of a bottle neck there even before accounting for the maybe someday eventual signing of Kai Havertz. Still, in a crunch, it could give Lampard an idea.
The other position Pulisic has reps with that Lampard has not really tried is wingback. Thomas Tuchel used the American there when back threes became all the rage. Effectively, Pulisic still played like a winger, he just had to drop back more.
The biggest concern there is that Pulisic would have more defensive responsibilities beyond pressing, and that would hinder his ability to go direct towards goal. If he remained on the left, he would still have to invert pretty heavily for a wingback to help out the offense.
That being said, it would be an interesting way to cram an extra attacker on to the field in certain games. On paper it may still look like a 4-3-3 but with three center backs and the opposite wingback acting more like a fullback. It gives Lampard another option to consider at least.
What questions do you think need to be asked about Pulisic before next season? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!