There's some guy who sells bootleg soccer VHS that I used to get world cup matches from back in the day - I hope I still have his addy!
Big write-up about AC Milan v Real Madrid today in the Guardian. Pulisic heavily praised. There's more about him, including a photo, in the Article. Photo caption reads, "Real Madrid struggled to contain Milan’s Christian Pulisic"
With his strong form, I gotta figure Milan should be making Pulisic one of the faced of the squad. Market the hell out of him in North America and throughout Italy.
Where have you been? Everywhere I look, from local media to Italian/Milan promotions, his face appears. And he has done several interviews and social media spots.
I believe he's already one of the few key faces for Milan. If he keeps this up, I have to think Milan will need to start thinking about his contract extension next Summer.
SempreMilan reporting ... It seems this {rotational} trend will continue this weekend, as Milan face Cagliari, and Corriere dello Sport (via Milan News) are suggesting that Fonseca will look to give some of his key players a rest after a mentally and physically draining game in Spain. Two players seem most likely at the moment, with Samuel Chukwueze and Tammy Abraham vying for a place within the starting 11. In this case, Alvaro Morata and Christian Pulisic would probably be given a chance to rest after their persistent minutes this season for club and country. Edit: Morata injured in training - definitely out this weekend. As Sky (via Milan News) reports, Alvaro Morata was rushed to hospital this morning after suffering a ‘severe head injury’ during the training session, colliding with Strahinja Pavlovic. For this reason, he will ‘definitely’ be unavailable for this weekend’s fixture.
Milan cannot afford to lose this game. The kid or Tammy is a hard choice for me. Some of Tammy's best moments, PK theft and miss aside, have been with CP, and he does put himself about. Milan own the kid's contract so they might be incentivized to think this is a good spot for him to get some first team minutes. I think I start Tammy and soften them up some, let the kid come on against tired defenders. I think Puli is nailed on as a starter in that type of situation. It is going to be the US's problem, not Milan's and that is as it should be IMO. He generally starts fast and my idea would be to leverage that and put the game away early to get him out of there around 60 or so. I thought in the game against RM he showed what he can do with a more central assignment. As long as he was on the pitch he was at the center of most good moves from Milan. He helped in defense and gave Milan some steel in the middle they have sorely lacked. I remember ragdoll Puli, but his strength, balance, and ability to ride a challenge seem to have gotten better. One of the few times I have seen Milan actually hold its own much less maintain control of the midfield. Pulisic's willingness to put some pressure on his man and force quick decisions. I am really excited for the guy. I had almost given up on the dream of him playing more central and being able to play a more pivotal role in games. I think he has the ability to orchestrate an attack and still be a key cog defending and maintaining control of the midfield. He may be the piece Milan has been missing most of the last season and a half.
Tammy is supposed to be available, but he's just coming off of an injury and I thought I saw him look like he twinged his shoulder during his few minutes on Tuesday - not enough to come off but he was running with his left arm close to his body after a collision, which makes me think he's still dealing with the shoulder problem. If so, Camarda may be a better option anyway. Also, FWIW Cagliari are missing two starters (Mina and Adopo) due to red cards against Lazio.
Morata's replacement for this weekend's game after sustaining injury incident: Soccer: Camarda, 16, to start for Milan agst Cagliari
"Samuel Chukwueze is tipped to resume his place on the right side of the attack, with Christian Pulisic the playmaker, Rafael Leao on the left, and Camarda up front. Predicted Milan XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Emerson Royal, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Reijnders, Fofana; Chukwueze, Pulisic, Leao; Camarda.
Christian Pulisic the playmaker.....love that description of him....don't think I will ever get tired of hearing him referred to as such. I think there is a lot more to him than just banging in a slightly above average number of goals. This is still surreal to think of an American being such an important player at such a historic side.
Like many Yanks, I got into following pro soccer in early 90s. And at that time AC Milan ruled the world! Desailly ruled the field! Also Maldini, Baresi, Costacurta and George Weah! What a team!
3-3 FT. Pulisic with a “sort of assist.” Low strike is deflected by GK for a Tammy tap in, Abraham proceeds to act like he hit a banger haha. I thought CP did well in a more central role vs Madrid the other day, but in slug fests like this, with a team that yields more possession, I think he belongs on the wing. Any time he got the ball there today, which was not often enough, something good seemed to happen.
I think the challenges today at CAM were twofold: 1. CF with first start in Serie A and not up for this level at his young age. Stagnant attack with an invisible CM and two wingers who are primarily dribblers. 2. Back line and center mids shambolic, causing him to have to drift too far back for defensive cover and to help progress the ball. Not to say he couldn’t have done more to impact from the role, but it was not set up for a ton of success. Maybe Fonseca got too cocky that they would dominate possession after the midweek successes (after which he completely changed the shape/setup).
Not sure if Fonseca was getting cocky, but today was not good. Shambolic defending, absolutely shampolic, how much of that was due to Tejani playing so far up the pitch? If the plan was to play with two players assigned to a 10 role, with a 6 then it was definitely overconfident. CP evidently didn't get the memo as he appeared to be rotating back in response to Tejani's forays forward. I don't think CP was particularly poor today, he had some fairly crucial stops on defense that were impressive. It is sad that Chuk was a show pony with no end product today. Milan just can't seem to get everybody firing on the same page. I suppose Fonseca may be to blame for that, but it has been a recurring theme for two years now. They missed a big chance to close the gap to the CL places
The only consistent thing about Milan is their inconsistency. Pisses me off that Milan are wasting the best, most impactful club period in Pulisic’s career. And I say wasting because this Milan will be very, very lucky to make any Cup final, let alone win it.
Chuk did not have a good game. The back 4-6 were also poor on defense. Terrible on the crosses into the box, defensively. No commitment on those challenges.