Christian Pulisic could have a future as AC Milan’s No.10 rather than as a winger with Paulo Fonseca looking to make his mark on the team and Rafael Leao preferring the American in that role.
There was a chance that Milan would play with a 4-3-3 under Fonseca but the signs in pre-season suggest that it will be a 4-2-3-1 like last season under Stefano Pioli and in that system, the No.10 role has belonged to Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Against Real Madrid on Wednesday night, Loftus-Cheek played in a deeper role alongside Ismael Bennacer and it was Pulisic who played as the 10, with Samuel Chukwueze shining in his role on the right wing.
Clearly, the coach would like to get Chukwueze and Pulisic into his starting eleven but the form of Loftus-Cheek last season means that he also warrants a place in the team. With new signings still expected to arrive, it is a developing situation but Pulisic as the central attacking midfielder seems to have more legs than it did before.
Rafael Leao recently said to ESPN (via Milan News) that, whilst he is not the coach, he prefers Pulisic when he is able to run through the middle of the pitch.
“I am not a coach, but I prefer Christian when he plays as number 10. From the centre he has the possibility of occupying space both on the left and on the right. I think he can be very dangerous in that position, but in general he does very well both as an attacking midfielder and on the right. As a 10 he would give me some assists, we could play fast, with one-twos or with a touch in the middle of the pitch… he can do everything,” Leao said.
The double pivot is the question for me will it be reinders/rlc and fofana/bennacer?
Reijnders-fofana probably.
Don’t like TJ in d double pivot…. I think he should play 10…. RLC, Musah, Ben, fofana, Pobega, Adli should rotate in d double pivot….
Pulisic, TJ rotate as CAM
Leao, salaemakers as LW
Chukwueze, Pulisic as RW
I can sacrifice okafor to get Tammy from Roma.. Tammy, Morata as ST
But according to some we need to spend 25M on Samardzic….
I mean……. Puli/Reijnders…. Samardzic wouldn’t hurt if you had a combination of two of them playing. that would be some serious depth.
Playing Pulisic as number 10 means that we are fielding 4 attackers. This is not balanced defensively especially when you have players that have low defensive work rate like Leao and Pulisic, have all your midfielders (except Bennacer) with no great defensive capabilities, and have a full back like Theo that likes to go forward very often.
First of all the position is attacking midfielder. Second, you couldn’t be more wrong comparing Pulisic’s workrate to Leao’s. Pulisic’s defensive work rate last season was great and if you watched the game last night he literally saved the game tying goal with a great block well inside the box, so yeah, he tracks back.
Pulisic is an attacker, that’s his natural position. If you field him anywhere, he will still be attacker. His defensive work rate can be checked on any stats website. The defensive responsibilities of AMF is higher than RW. Pioli realized that in the Scudetto season when he played Krunic and Kessie as AMF. He did this even though he had Saelmaeker as RW who had impressive defensive contributions. Now we have Reijnders and RLC as CM, all with modest defensive skills playing in the double pivot. Bennacer is the only true Defensive Midfielder but his physical condition makes him unreliable. Pulisic came as a substitute in the 66 minutes full of energy , so judging by one incident is ignorance. This not Video game, where you play with 4 attackers. If we play like this against top teams, we will be punished
“low defensive work rate like Leao and Pulisic”
How to say one hasn’t watched Pulisic play without saying one has not watched Pulisic play. Low work rate? How about your work rate then? Pretty lazy to accuse Pulisic of having low work rate. I’ll make it really easy for you. Watch the highlights from Real Madrid – Milan. Puli dived inside our own penalty box to block a goal-bound shot without any hesitation. If he has so low work rate, why was our ACM next to our penalty spot throwing himself at the ball? Oh right, because he’s lazy and has low rate. 😀 😀 😀
And FFS, it was a f’ng FRIENDLY! If he does that in a friendly, imagine him in a UCL match.
I don’t play for Milan, so my work rate should not concern you. I have been watching Milan games since you wore diapers. The difference is that I understand tactics and confirm my understanding by reading players stats. Pulisic was given more freedom as RW than any of his predecessors ( Messias and Saelemaeker). His work rate as RW is below average when compared to High work rate wingers like Saka, Kudus, Adyeami. When he plays as AMF, his defensive responsibilities will be more. That’s why Krunic and Kessie were used in that position, to keep the balance in the midfield and cover the gap between the double pivot. If you judge his defensive contribution by that clearances in a friendly match where he has to play for 20 minutes, then you better go watch other sports
If you look at last season as a whole, forget about friendlies now – on many occasions his defensive work exceeded the whole MID sector, while at the same time securing goals and assists.
I advise you to check the stats at a specialized site like fbref and statsbomb and compare it to other wingers around Europe. His stats as a winger defensively is below average. I don’t have doubts about his offensive contribution, even though changing positions will consume his energy as AMF and give him less space than RW
” I have been watching Milan games since you wore diapers.”
That comment alone proves you’re still a kid though. 😀
I think the difference is you don’t actually watch the games. Nobody who watched Milan’s games last season would say the Pulisic has a low work rate. So either you don’t watch the games or you are just incredibly dishonest.
Pulisic has excellent defensive work rate. Have you never watched him play?
Redking ,you are certainly not watching too many milan games !!! Pulisics defensive workrate is great !!