Christian Pulisic broke his goal drought on Sunday night, and he now hopes that people will stop talking about it.
Pulisic ended his five-month scoring drought with a goal and an assist in a 3-2 friendly win over Senegal. There was an outpouring of emotion from the forward when he netted his side’s second goal on the night, something which demonstrated how much frustration had been bottled up.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
After setting up Sergiño Dest’s seventh-minute opener, Pulisic did well to collect Ricardo Pepi’s pass, rounded Senegal goalkeeper Mory Diaw and tuck in from a tight angle for his first goal (for club or country) since December 28.
‘I’ve got to be ready’
It might just be a case of hitting form at the right time, with the USA beginning a home World Cup campaign on June 13. The Milan star spoke to reporters after the game to reflect on what was a positive night after a few negative months, with his comments relayed by ESPN.
“I felt this confidence. I’ve played really well in recent months too, but all people seem to care about is goals. So hopefully now people can stop talking about it. And I feel good and now obviously just a friendly. [We’ve] got big games ahead and I’ve got to be ready.”
Mauricio Pochettino – who has been linked with the Milan job in recent days – insisted that Pulisic got his rewards after lots of hard work in training.
“Every day, training with this attitude, with this commitment, with this energy, I think now we need to try to [extend] until 90 minutes.
“Happy for him also because after the long time or few months [without a goal], let’s score again, which is important for a player knowing the preparation to the World Cup.”
Oh look at that. He plays on the left, with freedom to drift and a real 9 to play off of then assists and scores. But hey, Allegri says he’s a sensitive guy.
Allegri knows how to get the full potential of his attacking players. Always has, always will. 🙂
Pulisic looked like a completely different player yesterday. Right from kickoff he looked happier and more comfortable. Playing on the left with a real striker I am sure made a big difference. I should be noted that said #9 ( Ricardo Pepi ) had a “hockey assist” on Pulisic’s assist and the actual assist on Pulisic’s goal.
Not having an in form striker likely seriously hampered both Pulisic and Leao this season as both play better from the wing with a real striker to work off of. So I don’t place 100% of the blame on Allegri since he didn’t have a really good option at the 9 all season. Could he have helped them improve with a different offensive game play, perhaps, but no one can be 100% certain.
It will be interesting to see how Leao does in the World Cup also. Also to see if Pulisic can keep up his form from yesterday. If both Leao and Pulisic perform well in the WC, it will make Allegri’s coaching look like the problem.
This is exactly right. Both Leao and Puli need a 9, ideally one who is good at holdup play and the little interchanges (yes, we miss you, Giroud!). I really wish Milan had just kept Camarda and given him plenty of slack and coaching and seen what he could do – I don’t think he could be worse than Fullkrug turned out to be. The height of the Milan front office dysfunction was bringing in Nkunku to compete with Leao and Puli at the same position, when Allegri ball would use only one well at a time. I thought Milan looked best this year with Santi in the lineup, even when not scoring, because at least he had the movement to occupy the center backs and interplayed well at times – he just missed his goal attempts. I don’t understand why we could never try 3-4-3 – I think it fundamentally came down to Leao being unwilling to do the work defensively.
i place all blame in Allegri. He has a system and tries to change players to fit into his dinosaur system. Good Manager analyzes the players and adepts the system to get the most out of them as players. The only player that got to do what he wanted this season is Modric and Magnian and our back, the rest were all over the place. That is what a good manager does.
Can you say Pioli had a better squad when we won Scudto and went that far in CL?
It’s also worth mentioning that Senegal is the African
champion. Plus Pulisic was really buzzing and blowing by players. And further, he only played the first half.
I think it’s obvious that the biggest problem was Allegri’s alignment.
Let me just interject here that if Pulisic decides to stay at Milan, then Milan really, really should go for Ricardo Pepi as the striker to replace Fullkrug/Jimenez.
The guy is a clinical finisher, super mobile, can do holdup, can play on the wing, makes runs all over the field, is perfect for the gegenpressing that Rangnick/Glasner would bring to Milan.
Pepi almost got sold to Fulham for €40 million in the middle of last season, but that fell through. So, he isn’t cheap, but his value is only going to go up
I agree, I like him too. It all depends on who is taking the over our club now, pending final decission. Then it is up to them to decide, as they will be responsable and accountable.
Oh wait maybe Maldini woud know better, let’s ask him
Where was this minuscule contribution during the campaign when it mattered?
Ask Allegri. Allegri screwed both Leão and Pulisic. with how he played
Or Füllkrug or Gimenez. Or Nkunku who was only visible when we got a penalty kick.
*Or ask Füllkrug…