Christian Pulisic has reflected on his first season with AC Milan during an interview published today, and he also revealed details of Stefano Pioli’s phone call before he arrived.
Pulisic is experiencing the best season of his career and it is only his first with Milan, given that he has 12 goals in Serie A and 15 in total across all competitions.
His previous record was in the 2019-20 season when with Chelsea he scored nine goals in the Premier League and 11 in total. He also has nine assists for the Rossoneri, for a total of 24 goal contributions for the season.
The purchase of Pulisic for €20m from the Blues proved to be an excellent investment for Milan, who had long since needed an upgrade on the right wing. Now, he could potentially be worth double what was paid.
Pulisic gave an interview to Il Giornale given that we are almost at the end of his first season at Milan, and his comments were translated by us below.
Fifteen goals and nine assists in his first year of Italian football. Dear Pulisic, not bad. What explanation do you have?
“A very simple explanation: in the two years before Chelsea I suffered a series of injuries and some changes in coach which didn’t help me. The exact opposite of what happened at Milanello: from day one I received everyone’s trust, it was the turning point.”
You arrived at Milan after a spell playing on the left. At Milan, however, you played immediately and well on the right and if sometimes you go back to the left you are no longer as successful as before. It’s an oddity: how do you explain it?
“It’s really true and sometimes, with the coaching staff, we joke about it. I’m no longer capable of playing on the left! The truth is that I got so used to the right and I definitely benefited from it even in scoring goals thanks to a little secret: his name is Rafa Leao.
“I studied and understood how he moves. He usually draws one, two or three opponents onto himself and then the defence is left undefended somewhere else, so I move, I go to the centre of the area, sure as I am that I will receive the right pass there at the right time.”
Footballers coming from England have a positive impact on our football, while Italian players heading to the Premier League don’t always manage to break through: is there a reason?
“My hypothesis is that Serie A is much more tactical, the English league much more physical and technical. If you come from the Premier League with these qualities, you can immediately perform at your best.”
What effect did the protest from the fans and the Curva Sud have on the dressing room in the two matches against Genoa and Cagliari?
“The fans have pushed us and helped us throughout the season, with noise and enthusiasm, with a full house: for this reason I respect their current state of mind.”
The widespread skepticism about the future and the disappointment about the present are the result of the elimination from Roma and the six derbies lost in a row: how do you explain them?
“I have no certainties on the matter. I can think that we faced these matches without the right organisation, we didn’t always defend in the right way, perhaps the strategy wasn’t perfect, we became vulnerable, leaving the defensive phase exposed due to the desire to always attack.”
Again, even players keep repeating the myth of the more physical PL. Complete bull. Watch the CL, and there is trace of the more physical PL. The PL is just populated with great ballers from all over the world.
I find these kind of narratives annoying too, but in Pulisic’s case I can see why he believes it. After his first (and quite successful) year at Chelsea it was clear that opponents were determined to simply foul him hard whenever he got the ball. It was blatant. And the refs did not protect him by issuing yellow cards as they should have done for such a cynical tactic.
Ditto 100%
I will take it one step further: An American!
Take him out! And the refs did not protect him at all!
I watched just about every match and the fouls he was was subject to in my humble opinion where instructed from the opposing coach! The player that fouled him was trying to snap either bone or blow out his knee! I did not witness any other blatant fouls on the other players. And if you doubt me, watch the whole match, not just the highlights.
Yep, absolutely agree!
The English refs are the WORST of any of the top football leagues of the world.
The reason the Premier League is so “physical” is simply that the refs do NOT CALL FOULS that should be called, and they do not give out yellow cards and red cards that should be given. This leads to REPEATED FOULING, some of it quite violent, and this and only this is the reason that the Premier League is so “physical”.
The Premier League is so much a “physical league” so much as it is a league where repeat egregious violent fouls is CONDONED and happens in every match. They don’t play football out there on the pitch, they are playing playing some variant of mixed martial arts out there in England. (The lower levels of English football are like this also, the 2nd division Championship is probably worse, and having watched some of the Wrexham matches, it seems to be like that all the way down to the fifth division National League and League 2).
What makes it worse is that clearly, some players get special protection from the refs, usually the top English stars.
When Harry Kane was still in the Premier League, if anybody even touched him in the box, it was going to be a PK.
Conversely the only reason clod footed Harry Maguire is still in the Premier League is because so many of the grabbing and holding that he does in the box never gets called.
With Pulisic, there is absolutely no question that the reason his effectiveness declined after the first season was because defenses discovered that they could just kick him in the legs anytime he got close to a defender and the referees would not call a foul. This became a recurring theme throughout the rest of his Chelsea career – it resulted in Pulisic losing his effectiveness at penetrating through defenders, becoming a turnover machine, and also getting a whole host of physical contact injuries.
This is where his reputation for being injury prone came from – he was just brutalized in the Premier League, and the awful English refs did nothing about it.
Watching Serie A football this season, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how good the referees are. They are obviously not perfect, but compared to the English refs, they are 1000x better.
If he is fit and gets regular game time he will deliver.. just needs to step up more in big games tho. But overall, for a first season, he did extremely well.
He did well /most of his damage when he wasn’t the primary or secondary attacking option. Without Theo/Leao drawing 2-3 defenders each, he struggles. At least he recognizes this himself and can maybe work to improve that.
It has helped Pulisic that Leao is double teamed often because it means they can’t double team him as easily (putting an extra defender out wide on BOTH of them is problematic at best).
Honestly, that’s a basis for every worthwhile attacking play.. someone needs to make space for other players. What we really lacked is coherence on the right side drawing players away so the left side can produce. And then they just feed on each other amd become unpredictable where danger is coming from
Like Robben and Ribery completed each other and abused the wings.
Great insight.
“I can think that we faced these matches without the right organisation, we didn’t always defend in the right way, perhaps the strategy wasn’t perfect, we became vulnerable, leaving the defensive phase exposed due to the desire to always attack.” – Puli saying what everyone, except the very special few, knew since January 2023.
Yeah the previous management wanted to get rid of Pioli but Jerry chose to keep the coach and fire the management. Masterful gambit sir.
“A very simple explanation: in the two years before Chelsea I suffered a series of injuries and some changes in coach which didn’t help me. ”
The irony in that they’re going to change the coach once more lol. Mentioned this the other day, suppose it’s Pioli that’s getting the best out of him 🤔
“The truth is that I got so used to the right and I definitely benefited from it even in scoring goals thanks to a little secret: his name is Rafa Leao”
Well I guess this settled the debate. Even Pulisic admits to benefitting from Leao’s presence on the left. The whole team does
Yet we had some posters (very few though) who claim we should sell Leao now since he is expensive and you just can put Pulisic on the left and voilà.
But wasn’t Leao on the left last year??? Why didn’t we get the same production from right then? Give a little credit here….
Puli’s earlier comments about why he’s been able to stay fit all year are right on. He said that at Chelsea under the last 2 coaches he was in and out all the time. He’d play well, yet be benched for the next several weeks, then brought in and expected to go 110%. *No one’s* body handles that well. At Milan, he’s been the 1st choice on the right and so his body was able to get fit and stay fit.
Puli is a bit modest about his football intelligence. Coming to such a tactical league isn’t easy for players from the prem to adapt to. You have to be pretty damn smart and quick on the uptake to take it in as fast as he did. Also… Italian football can be every bit as fadt paced as the prem. It’s just that they have more than one speed.
We also load managed Pulisic this season too. Notice the majority of the games, he comes off in the last 15-20 minutes of the game
He was very complimentary of Leao and took a bit of a shot a fans who are complaining about Leao. The comments about the English refs is spot on. He was one of the players who would rarely get a call whereas players like Grealish would be barely touched, fall over, and then get the call. My favorite comment by an English commentator was about an English player being a good lad and never cheats (fake fouls). LOL- every footballer cheats!!!!