Christian Pulisic is not enjoying a positive 2026 so far, but he is hoping that playing the last team he scored against will help.
Pulisic’s season, much like Milan’s, has been a tale of two halves. The American has gone from total dominance in the first part of the campaign to an incomprehensible collapse in the second, just as the team have.
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The numbers can somewhat better convey the concerning situation. Pulisic racked up eight goals and two assists from August to the end of December, while he has zero goals and only one assist in 2026 so far.
From Verona to Verona
His last goal was against Hellas Verona at San Siro back on December 28. Right on the stroke of half-time, with one minute gone of two added on, a well-worked set-piece routine saw Rabiot provide the flick-on at the near post, and Pulisic was waiting at the far stick to volley in from close range.
From then on, he suffered a decline that saw him miss two games due to an injury and provide only one assist in 14 games in 2026. Admittedly until the turn of the year he was shooting at a rate that was so prolific that it seemed unsustainable, and so it proved to be.
Despite this, it seems Massimiliano Allegri is still intent on giving the former Chelsea man a starting spot at the Stadio Bentegodi on Sunday afternoon, hoping he can finally find his feet and guide the Rossoneri to three much-needed points.
There is another positive precedent too: in the 2023-24 season Pulisic was on the scoresheet at the Bentegodi as the Diavolo won 3-1 under Stefano Pioli. He did not play in the away game last season due to a calf issue, but has four wins out of four versus the Gialloblu.
In Verona, Allegri will return to a 3-5-2 formation and will partner the USA international with Rafael Leao, who is also not going through a great period of form. It is the front two that the coach has always seen working together, and they need to help each other through a difficult moment.
He’s not the problem.
Are Allegri’s practices the problem? It just seems odd that all the forwards on a team with the pedigree and quality of AC Millan would go into a slump at the same time. Both Leao and Pulisic were dominant in the first half of the season. When they got a shot, it was always on frame and most times a goal. The longer they have played under Allegri, the worse their accuracy has gotten. If it was just Leao, or just Pulisic I could attribute it to a player slump. But it is both and really, all the attaching players on the roster. That makes me think there is something about Allegri’s rules or practices that is causing these slumps. I know Allegri needed to focus on the defending because it was horrible last year. But you need to practice attacking too.
I think Gimenez was way more important than most realized. He’s the striker so the lack of goals was the focus but really the goals were coming just from everyone else. His movement is awesome, there’s no denying that. Leao and Puli were scoring when they started with Gimenez they never played together. Just look when the drop off happened, shortly after Gimenez went down. Puli and Leao kept it going sort of for a few weeks after but quickly dropped off. I really hope he can start soon so we can see if that is true or not.
This is right. Both of them play better with a 9 to play off of and Gimenez did a lot of things right. This team has looked best this season with a Puli/Gimenez front 2. I still think Allegri should try the 3-4-2-1 with Puli as one of the 2 at the top of box midfield and Gimenez up top. Because it’s Pioli, it would probably be Rabiot in the other attacking midfield spot or maybe RLC. Then you can switch either way, to get more attacking, you play both Leao and Puli as the 10s with a 9. To get more defensive, you play Rabiot and RLC as the 10s.
Agreed. Having a serviceable 9 starting with one of Pulisic or Leao was always the better option. Don’t forget that Giroud won a World Cup without scoring any goals because he managed to unlock the playing field for the likes of Mbappe and Griezmann.
Indeed. And it’s not like ANY Milan attacker (or attacking midfielder) is getting the job done either. Shall be blame 5-6 players for being “poor at scoring” or will we finally admit it’s the (lack of) tactics that is the main issue?