This is a new series that will cover various Chelsea players, especially backup and fringe players under Thomas Tuchel. The aim is to predict and explore the positions and roles these players would have under the new head coach Graham Potter.
Christian Pulisic has had a rough Chelsea career. The Blues signed the American in the winter transfer window of the 2018/19 season and left him at Borussia Dortmund on loan for the rest of the season. Pulisic arrived at Chelsea for the 2019/20 season. He played 25 matches under Frank Lampard in the Premier League that season, starting 19 games. You can say he had a good first season.
He was out for 10 weeks through injury that season, and most of his goal involvements came in the last eight games of the season after the COVID-19 lockdown was lifted, what many fans remember as Project Restart. Chelsea was shaky by the time Project Restart started, and Pulisic’s form saw Chelsea make a solid push for Champions League qualification, eventually securing it on the final day. He continued to get injured and kept going in and out of the starting eleven and matchday squad.
Lampard switched a 4-3-3 at some point in the 2020-21 season, a formation that saw the American deployed predominantly as a left winger playing as an inside forward, allowing him to cut inside. He also often ran in behind the opposition back line and get on the end of very good goal-scoring chances. Many fans think the American is a dribbler, but while the former Dortmund forward tries it often, he’s not very good at it: often completing between 45 – 50 per cent of attempts in a league season.
Chelsea has appointed Potter as head coach and while no one knows what formation or system he shall mainly play, his time at Brighton & Hove Albion suggests that he’d likely lean toward a three-centerback formation at Chelsea too, especially with the number of centerhalves at the club.
3-CB formations often restrict the roles of the forwards used in the system, depending on what the manager wants out of the players in that system. Where then does the attacker fit in? Across all his seasons at Chelsea, one thing has remained consistent with Pulisic: his ability to get on the receiving end of high-quality chances, as well as a decent conversion rate of those chances.
This is considering that many Chelsea forwards, especially strikers, struggle to get big chances. Pulisic received 12 big chances in his first season at the club. He received eight in his second season and 11 in his third season. In fact, last season, Pulisic received more big chances than any other Chelsea forward bar Kai Havertz, despite not playing up to 1300 minutes.
The USA captain took his shots from an average of 12.9 yards last season, with only Havertz taking shots on average from a closer distance (12.2 yards) amongst forwards at the club. This ability to get on the end of clear-cut chances, especially in games where Chelsea is struggling to get any breakthrough, means that Pulisic may well be deployed as a second striker in a two-striker formation.
Potter may decide to sometimes (or all the time) play a 3-4-1-2 or a 4-1-2-1-2 (4-Diamond-2/4-D-2). Pulisic may even play as one of the two strikers in a 3-5-2, a formation that Tuchel has used on several occasions. This may be the best way to optimize the winger’s skillset. He could read the game and ghost behind the back line at key moments, rather than being in a position to try and dribble.
Should Pulisic be deployed as a second striker in a front two. It is not necessarily a position he has played in often, but it would be a role he could be brilliant in, especially considering all the things he’s good at.