“He can have a huge impact from the bench”: Thomas Tuchel Hints At New Role For Christian Pulisic

The Chelsea manager also talked about the UMNT player’s injury

Christian Pulisic’s second season at Chelsea has far been from anything he or the club’s boisterous supporters would have envisaged.

After going on a rampage in the tailend of last season, the USMNT player was envisioned to become a mainstay of Chelsea’s attack. However persistent injuries and inconsistent showings when on the pitch have seen Pulisic leave much to be desired.

Tuchel Speaks On Pulisic’s Woes

Although he netted his first strike under Tuchel earlier last week against West Brom, Pulisic still has a long and arduous road before he can emulate his gripping performances from last season. Thomas Tuchel talked about the USA starlet and spoke about utilising Pulisic’s searing speed in a substitute role.

“His fitness is always important because he has a huge impact with sprint and intensity at the highest level. It’s one of his biggest strengths but he needs to feel confident and calm mentally,” Tuchel said as he spoke about Pulisic.

“Then he can be a huge weapon for us. He scored against West Brom but the overall game and his need to go ff at half time clouded the goal and impact he had but now against he was very close to scoring.

“He can have a huge impact from the bench. We have to take care of him, hopefully he won’t be reinjured. I feel him getting stronger and more confident.

“He can be a decisive factor with his speed, ability to dribble and arrive in the box from dangerous situations. Hopefully he can have that impact. It’s our job to push him there.”

The coach also talked about Kai Havertz and Timo Werner and their ongoing struggles for Chelsea.

“Look at the games Porto played in Champions League. Show me a nice and fluid performance from an opponent and we can talk again. They make it very tough. It’s not the easiest task up front but they had a big impact defensively, they worked hard for us.

“We changed after 60, 65 minutes but we will not lose faith and trust. We accept sometimes it’s hard to have a big impact,” Tuchel commented when speaking about the duo’s performance against Porto.