Christian Pulisic is still in the early days of his AC Milan career, but French legend Thierry Henry is expecting more out of the U.S. men’s national team star in Italy.
Pulisic joined AC Milan in a permanent deal this summer from Chelsea, taking the next step in his club career. The 25-year-old hit the ground running in Milan, scoring in his first two Serie A appearances after jumping right into Stefano Pioli’s squad.
However, Pulisic has hit a recent dry spell for the Rossoneri, most recently being dropped from the starting lineup in Tuesday’s goal-less UEFA Champions League draw vs. Newcastle United.
Henry, who was previously linked with the USMNT head coaching vacancy, hinted on CBS Sports’ new show “Kickin’ It”, that he would like to see Pulisic bring the same confidence and freedom to AC Milan that he brings to the international level.
https://x.com/CBSSportsGolazo/status/1702373960313160156?s=20
“As a creative player if you don’t try to make mistakes, you cannot succeed,” said Henry. “I can see on the national team, [Pulisic] feels like, ‘I can make mistakes.’ When you play on the big club [team], you play the ball one time and it’s a mistake and the next time you touch it is 15 minutes after. People remember every time you touch the ball that you lost it.
“The international team, he plays with that confidence,” Henry added. “We were all creative players, so you have to score. So if you feel like in your head you can’t lose that ball, then you might as well step out of the field and don’t play.”
Pulisic endured a tough 2022-23 campaign with Chelsea, scoring only one goal and adding two assists in just over 1,000 minutes played. However, over the same span with the USMNT, Pulisic scored four goals and added four assists in nine appearances, which also included a strong showing at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
While Pulisic is always a lock to start for the USMNT, his long-term role with AC Milan can constantly change with several other talented wingers in the Rossoneri squad. Especially with AC Milan fighting to compete for domestic silverware this season, delivering a deep run in the Champions League will be high on Pioli and Pulisic’s radar as the campaign pushes forward.
AC Milan resumes Serie A play on Saturday against Hellas Verona before also facing Cagliari and Lazio to close out its September schedule.
Let’s be honest here Milan paid the same money for Pulisic and Chukwueze. Chukwueze is coming off a big season last year 13g 11a in all comps. Pulisic is coming in off a not good season 1g 2a. Christian had the benefit of being in early and getting out ahead but they bought those 2 to compete. CP is fine, but if Chukwueze gets hot and Pulisic slumps it could get bad fast. But it can quickly go Christian’s way too if stays productive.
i wouldn’t read too much into a player being omitted from a UCL roster, as many UCL teams use early group games and early round domestic cup games as B team opportunities.
Not worried about Pulisic. He will get plenty of minutes for Milan.
Henry making his pitch to coach the USMNT? Why would we hire him? he’s been decidedly poor as a manager. Awesome player
Chukwueze, who started in Pulisic’s place, was terrible. Leao was doing a great Jozy Altidore impression – especially in the second half. Pulisic came on and the team improved. His play with Musah down the right looked like the way through the last 15 minutes but they kept playing to Leao on the left who was not gonna happen that night.
I think Henry is jumping to conclusions after two games where the entire team under performed. Pulisic seemed up for it. He did go after the defense. He didn’t seem in his head. Pioli made some odd decisions in his starting 11. I don’t think he respected Newcastle and paid for it with dropped points at home. Maybe he rated Newcastle lower than Hellas Verona (Saturday’s opponent) and looked to rest a couple players after not rotating through he first weeks of Serie A. I expect Pulisic to start in that game and to have a good run out.
PS…Musah looked great (minus one really awful turnover)! I hope his performance translates into more pt.
re “didn’t respect newcastle,” 1) they got a point which basically has them joint second when 2 teams advance — good enough for government work — and 2) when i hear fanboys reciting the glories of european football it doesn’t jibe with my cup football memories when i lived there. my memory was they treated early rounds like USOC. run the Bs out and see if you get a result anyway. i am sure they could do better than a tie at san siro — and they have tough enough a group they may pay for their strategy in december — but my impression was cup games were often used to rest starters. but then many american fanboys seem to want the A team called for every friendly.
that being said you lose enough cup games and slide some in league and you’re done. the ownership and FO will wink at running the Bs out as long as you generally get the job done. but the same choice and you lose some and you may get canned. it’s a results business. so milan may need a few results in a row.
IV how long ago did you live there? Milan started 9 regular starters as did Newcastle. PSG used all 11 regulars and Dortmund used 9 but also went with a 5-3-2 instead of their normal 4-3-3. PSV used 10 first choice starters and Arsenal 8 since it seems like Raya is now the #1 keeper. I’m not worried about Pulisic at this point, but your memory lane of B team’s fighting it out in the group stage is false. These aren’t 6 cherry picked teams these are just the first 6 I looked at.
My point about not respecting Newcastle was looking ahead at this weekends match up. Considering their group, I would think full points vs Newcastle at the San Siro would be job number one. Would rotating players be more prudent vs a mid-table team like Hellas Verona?
you listed several teams with only 8 or 9 regulars then act like no one taps the bench. does not compute. it is the exception from your own list that they literally run out the A team as a whole some more. when a MLS team tries to skate through USOC it’s not literally the reserves. it’s a mix. the hope is the starters rest while a freshened team wins, but sometimes they dress in case. i have watched too many FA Cup “upsets” where in reality newcastle loses 5-0 because it’s playing kids, to buy your theory.
i am going to keep reiterating what i know because US fanboys routinely get confused that either pulisic is being demoted or pepi promoted because of who plays UCL. the fixture list is always an opportunity to push for change when someone new plays, but often enough, it is like USOC. early rounds my MLS team will rest many starters. it is a calculated risk that my subs and reserves are still better than your starters. a tie in your first of 6 games may be meaningless at the end.
the folks who defend GB for squeaking out of group should get this implicitly.
Master: my guess would be they thought they could rotate and still get a W off newcastle at home. it didn’t work out perfect but it’s a risk calculation and not a guarantee. and a tie leaves them second still. they tied RBS first game last season’s UCL and advanced second before making it all the way to the semis.
to me what european teams are trying to avoid is, say, what celtic did. you get whooped soundly and in doing so put up some awkward numbers for a tiebreaker.
to me teams like ACM that didn’t just win their league title by 10 points, who have aspirations, will emphasize league ball. they want that trophy and right now they don’t have a standings “cushion” to play with, and don’t know how many results a scudetto will take, to risk even a light opponent. and there is a kind of circularity where they look at it as league form gets you back to financially rewarding UCL again next year.
to be fair to you ACM went out group round a couple years ago and they are taking that risk. i think based on the league standings of the rest of the group they may think it’s easier than it looks. i also think rotating always has a hint of arrogance or risk taking. i’ve been rested for a tournament knockout and watched someone else lose it for me and that potential final evaporates.
but you also can’t play your starters every day. americans seem to want that. they will break. to me these early cup games are the chance to do it. when you get to the spring and the table starts to settle out then you can say to yourself, i have a 10 point lead, or 6 points to the team ahead and behind me, one game won’t change things much. but now to me it would be let’s try to skate through UCL group while fighting for league, and if we mess up, a league emphasis gets us UCL groundhog day again next year……
like i said, it’s all a risk. team loses enough risky stuff and you’re out of a job. part of the game is knowing who to rotate in and how many.
“ my memory was they treated early rounds like USOC. run the Bs out and see if you get a result anyway.”
“ UCL teams use early group games and early round domestic cup games as B team opportunities.”
“ early rounds my MLS team will rest many starters.”
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So if 82% of the starters start that’s the B team? You made a statement twice that was false and then tried to back track by saying 9 or 10 out of the first choice line up is what you meant by resting many starters and giving other’s opportunities.