Chelsea faced an early deficit at Selhurst Park against London rivals Crystal Palace, but the Blues fought their way back to earn a victory with Christian Pulisic having a hand in the winning goal.
Pulisic came off the bench and set up Conor Gallagher’s go-ahead goal in a 2-1 road win over the Eagles. The U.S. men’s national team attacker played the final 10 minutes for Graham Potter’s side, making an impact in a needed victory for Chelsea.
Despite conceding a seventh-minute opener to Odsonne Edouard, Chelsea would tie things up through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s equalizer in the 38th minute. Chelsea continued to pick up the pressure in the second half and Pulisic’s introduction helped spark the winning attack in South London.
Pulisic cut inside from the left wing before laying off a pass for Gallagher, allowing the fellow substitute the opportunity to curl a right-footed shot into the top-right corner. It was Pulisic’s first assist of the season and his latest impactful performance against Crystal Palace after scoring five goals in his prior seven head-to-head appearances.
The 24-year-old will now push to start Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League match on Wednesday at Stamford Bridge against AC Milan. Pulisic has yet to start under Potter, but his impact in Saturday’s win could propel him into the starting lineup.
Pulisic came in the 84th minute, used his skill to take on players (yes) and made the pass that resulted in a goal (yes)…..congrats but lets take into account
1. He came on in the dying minutes of the second half and not a part of Chelsea’s / Potter’s starting line-up
2. Conor Gallagher had to make something really special out of nothing to get the Golazo
Pulisic not making the starting line-up for Chelsea showed in his overall play, confidence, sharpness and ability for the USMNT……and we need Pulisic to be his best in Qatar, as you don’t tend to just show up at a World Cup and flip a switch.
Had Conor not scored imagine what the reaction would have been.
From the English fan “What a waste Pulisic was, wasted all his chances.”
From the American fan “He’s being wasted if he just played more he’d produce more than Sterling or Mount. The bias against Americans is so abundant”
————————————
Oddly many of those same posters are calling for a foreign coach because we aren’t good enough to beat teams like England because it’s stars are more talented so we need a coach with a huge CV.
Johnnyrazor….maybe we just need to come to terms with the fact that getting regular playing time means staying away from the Man City’s, the Man U’s, the Arsenals, the Chelsea’s etc for US players. You need a coach with the patience, trust and knowledge of a players potential (Ream, Robinson), a coach looking to develop the player while building the team (Musah), a coach that trusts in the player’s abilities even after SEVERAL bad / Flat games (Adam, Aaronson)…….these big clubs don’t have that mentality. It’s sink or swim, and if you can’t cut it you are benched, loaned or sold (which can mess with a player’s psyche, confidence and self worth). I think Pulisic would have a better and more stable chance at Leeds, Fulham, Newcastle even Everton or Aston Villa……or going back to the Bundesliga.
It’s tough
Bizzy,
“these big clubs don’t have that mentality. It’s sink or swim, and if you can’t cut it you are benched, loaned or sold (which can mess with a player’s psyche, confidence and self worth).”
First of all, like a lot of USMNT fans, you’ve given up on Pulisic too soon. He remains, right now, the USMNT’s best player and their best chance to pull upsets.
If in the next month or so he gets some of that SHEETZ crap that they call “food” in him:
https://www.sheetz.com/food
maybe the salt and sugar high will remind him of his best self and bring Lampard’s Frankenstein monster back. He needs that more than some love from Newcastle or West Ham, clubs that define mediocrity.
You might want to re-orient your reasoning.
If a player does not already have that “big club”, swim right away, confidence and attitude then they are not very useful to a national team, any national team. Exhibit A, Jackson Yueill, taking 16 caps to show us that he wasn’t worth the 16 caps. A waste of time and effort. There are too many of these frauds (Lletget) inhabiting Gregg’s rosters.
The best international players can produce on demand, when asked, often in tough, unfamiliar places with unfamiliar teammates.
For example, if the USMNT could bring in Lewandoski and start him against Wales I would bet that he would do pretty well, especially with guys like Roldan and Ariolla to service him.
That’s because he’s a “big” club guy. He’s used to those sink or swim situations and more often than not he swims.
Clint had the exact same mentality, if not quite the same skill level as Lewandoski. You know how Clint got that way? Among other things, he got it by staying at Fulham and fighting like a dog every single second of the day for every single minute of his playing time.
And there are no players on the current USMNT that have that mindset, that attitude.
Pulisic aside (maybe) none of these snowflakes could hold a candle to Clint, in that regard, let alone Lewandoski.
Gio, Yunus, or Pepi, may someday have that confidence , that iron will, but they are not there yet. Not today.
Bizzy: I also think there’s a big difference for a 24 yr old between playing 20-30 mins each week with maybe a midweek start of 45-60 every 2-3 weeks and 1-10 minutes off the bench. The first isn’t perfect but guys can get rhythm each week and stay match fit they second option they can’t get any flow. I guess I’m ok with McKennie because Alegri is constantly praising Wes in the press and showing belief whereas Tuchel was very noncommittal with Pulisic. I guess we’ll see about Potter
I think the difference here is notice where Christian gets the ball. He’s out on the touch line. We saw the US try to get him wider with McKennie running the channel vs Saudi Arabia. The touch and timing were a bit off between the two but you could see the potential. I think the pass was really out of necessity since he had that loose touch but as someone else said he could have just tried to force it through and lost the ball. I’ve watched a lot of Chelsea under Frank and Tuchel and they’ve been very much one on one “hero ball” oriented in the final third. Perhaps Potter can get them to play as a team in the final third as Tuchel was able to get them to play together defensively.
I would not consider this much of playmaking assist but more of inter play within the 18. Regardless, the willingness to play your teammates into the offense creates options for everyone when willing to give the ball up.
Sterling play would have been to dribble, dribble, and dribble more looking to shoot
Good to finally see him attack the defense with the ball at his feet. Which allowed Gallagher to score.
Hopefully this will be a start to his confidence coming back.
Mount, Havertz, and Sterling were pretty toothless in this game. Pulisic will get his chances.
I agree and he did well to get that assist too.