Christian Pulisic is still without a goal since the turn of the year, and this has made him the ‘great mystery’ at AC Milan.
Corriere dello Sport ask: where has that crucial player gone, the one who scored and provided assists for months in the Rossoneri shirt? He’s been missing for five months, and his latest performance against Juventus was a snapshot of the current low point Pulisic is experiencing.
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The forward is stuck and is feeling the strain of not scoring anymore. Inside the dressing room, people talk about a player who is ‘in the doldrums’, his morale low due to a crisis that has hampered him since December 28th, the date of his last Serie A goal.
Since then, he’s been plagued by injuries, but once he returned to the starting line-up he hasn’t found the back of the net. Milan were flying high at the start of the season thanks to the American’s goals, but that feels like a long time ago.
A dry spell
As mentioned, Pulisic has not scored in 2026 and with the last goalless match he even equaled the record for longest goalless streak. He has gone 16 games without scoring, a feat he had already experienced at Chelsea in the 2022-23 season, the one before his move to Milan.
The other sign that has emerged is that his understanding with Rafael Leao isn’t working. The duo do not seem to have the chemistry nor the cohesion required to be able to play in a front two effectively, perhaps because of a lack of starts together.
After the match against Juventus – in which Pulisic was substituted during the second half because he was barely impacting the game – Massimiliano Allegri emphasised the mental issue: “He’s a very sensitive guy; the fact that he’s not scoring affects him even more.”
This characteristic has emerged over the last five months, and now the lack of self-confidence seems to be seriously affecting him. There’s also a tactical component that’s working against the American: with the current formation, he’s one of the players most penalised.
Allegri admitted this: “Playing without a true striker makes it harder for him, but I have to try to balance the team.” Therefore, Pulisic’s technical characteristics would make him better suited to a three-man attack, where he could play wide on the right, as he did in his first two years at the club.
If the Rossoneri insist on this tactical approach, Pulisic might consider finding other options. Therefore, his future remains uncertain, as is the case with all the other forwards in the squad. Pulisic will want to use the World Cup to attract offers, and Milan will hope he regains form.
His contract renewal is currently on hold, but the matter will be addressed during the summer when decisions will need to be made to improve an attacking unit in serious difficulty.
I don’t see Pulisic regaining his form at the World Cup because Pochettino seems to be like Allegri in thinking the Pulisic should be played out of position. It must be acknowledged that Weston McKennie is the best player the USMNT has at the moment. Unless something changes drastically, soccer is going to take a big step backwards in the US after a home World Cup. I don’t see the USMNT getting out of the group stage and I won’t blame the players. Pochettino has been an extreme disappointment as coach.
As an American, I will be more than happy to be proven wrong, but I really don’t think that is going to happen.
Pochettino is one of those managers that is seriously overhyped. But an ideal Redbird manager as he’d have no problem developing young players and being 4th every season.
The 3-5-2 system suits neither Leao nor Pulisic. They are both wingers. Huge Pulisic fan but probably time to consider other pastures if Allegri is staying. He needs to pot a goal or two before the season’s end to regain confidence and attract decent offers. One or both of Leao or Pulisic will be sold.
Pulisic did well in the 1st quarter of the season when he was playing with an actual striker though. He and Leao just simply are incompatible as a striker pair.
Confidence or Allegri issue. I vote it’s an Allegri issue. What’s the evidence for a lack of confidence vs Allegri having him positioned so far from the goal. Makes a 40 yard run with no one to pass the ball to. The most accurate statement in this article is that Pulisic suffers the most in this formation. But in reality, both Leão and Pulisic are suffering. Leão gets an assist and a goal in I don’t know how many games and things are fine. Pulisic gets an assist and there’s a lack of confidence. It’s the system. And don’t give me Inter play a 3-5-2. Inter commits players in attack, ACM plays park the bus and hope.
It’s really easy. Pulisic stopped scoring after there was a news story about him and that actress. Unfortunately, he fell apart mentally. Still a great player.
What you wrote is literally ignoring he was scoring basically every game until end of last year. What changed on 1st of January? “American soccer star Christian Pulisic publicly denied rumors in December 2025 that he was dating actress Sydney Sweeney, calling the reports “fake news” and “made up stories”. Pulisic, who has been in a relationship with golfer Alexa Melton since 2024, asked for accountability regarding the false, viral rumors.”
He is sensitive, he even said something along those lines in the interview he had last year. Not hard to see.
Complete nonsense. Has nothing to do with it. He stopped scoring when they started pairing him with Leao up top. When Leao was injured at the beginning of the season is when Pulisic was scoring . It doesn’t work for either of them. Everyone in the world except for ALlegri and apparently you can see that. If Allegri stays bot Pulisic and Leao should leave. This Juventus match was a joke. 11 men behind the ball in the box. Even when either Pulisic or Leao did get an opportunity to counter it was 1 v2 or 1 v 3 every time. Nobody to play off of or pass to.
Who cares if you can squeeze into Champions League football by playing this type of ugly, boring non attacking football, They won’t compete against anyone playing this way and more importantly it is unwatchable. Nobody wants to watch this nonsense. That’s why Serie A is dying.
It happened literally that day. You can even check it. 😀 28th of December scored last goal, same day that story goes out. The day after his girlfriend deletes all pictures of them from social media, and he doesn’t score a single goal since that. He has had more than enough chances and he missed what he would usually score. Your idea is that since how they play is boring that is why Pulisic doesn’t score when is in a chance?
I think if you asked a random person they would understand things better than you, and you’re following this weekly. Incredible.
This guy never heard of a coincidence in his life. Yes, some stupid gossip story made him forget how to put the ball in the net.
Or the fact that he needs an actual CF up top to play off of like he had in the previous seasons and at the beginning of this season before Allegri started playing him and Leao together up top.
Which is more likely…
I’m sure yesterday when Pulisic was trying to take on 3 defenders by himself because the rest of the team was well behind , it was the gossip story in a magazine 3 months ago that was holding him back. Can we get back to reality please.
Attacking is an afterthought on Allegri’s team. He’s playing for a 0 – 0 draw and maybe if a CB can get a header off a corner and we win 1-0 thats icing on the cake. This is Allegri ball. This is why our attacking players are all suffering. It’s not any more complicated than that. No conspiracy theories needed.
Yes. Coincidence. Have you ever seen a single Pulisic interview? He mentioned himself he is missing that confidence top players have, and not once. Allegri says he is sensitive. They are both lying and you are of course right. “Conspiracy theory”? Do you even know what is a conspiracy? I doubt it. But just for fun, where do you see a conspiracy, who conspired against Pulisic? It is ridiculous someone that doesn’t even understand the terms he is writing is trying to explain. Maybe it was an oxymoron? Let’s just use random terms that have NOTHING to do with anything written. Good job!
Yes. Coincidence. Have you ever seen a single Pulisic interview? He mentioned himself he is missing that confidence top players have, and not once. Allegri says he is sensitive. They are both lying and you are of course right. “Conspiracy theory”? Do you even know what is a conspiracy? I doubt it. But just for fun, where do you see a conspiracy, who conspired against Pulisic? It is ridiculous someone that doesn’t even understand the terms he is writing is trying to explain. Conspiracy theory 😂😂😂
Btw I’ve said this 3 months ago, he crashed mentally and needs someone at the club to work with him on his mentality. Unfortunately, seems that at the club they think like you, so they didn’t do what is correct.
“Pulisic stopped scoring after there was a news story about him and that actress. Unfortunately, he fell apart mentally.”
BS. He stopped scoring after getting injured and been paired with Leao.
Ok.
Earlier this season, Pulišić was actually terrific. He scored and assisted in many games, moved a lot, covered a lot of ground,… In fact he seemed to be in face to have his best ever season with us. So tactics alone can’t explain his current lack of form.
Injuries alone can’t also explain his problem as he looked good against Inter and scored in the first derby, and scored 2 goals from the bench against Torino.
I think the problem is partially his parternship with Leão (which doesn’t work) and partially mental. Now obviously, us having like one big chance per game doesn’t help him trying to overcome that.
I’ve told you exactly what it is. It happened and he didn’t score a goal after this. His girlfriend (or ex) deleted their pictures together from social media. If that was Ibrahimovic he’d score a hat trick in the next 2 games, just because of the stories.
There is indeed a strong correlation between Pulišić starting to miss sitters and those rumours with Sweeney.
But I find it weird that a player of this caliber would be affected by this for so long, but who knows ?
Allegri is definitely a part ( a big part ) of the problem with the attack. What are the chances of every attacking player on a team with the quality and status of AC Milan going into a slump at the same time? So I don’t think the problem is the players. It is Allegri not being willing to adapt his system to fit the talents of the players he has.
In the first half of the season, Leao and Pulisic rarely played together and both had good first halves. Now, since January they have been playing together and neither is producing. It should be blindingly obvious that Leao and Pulisic do not work well together in a front two. They worked well together with a true striker between them, but not with just a front two.
Allegri should consider trying not starting one of the two. Perhaps start Leao and Fullkrug or Nkunku and bring on Pulisic and Gimenez sometime between 45 and 60 minutes.
So he missed 15 sitters this year because Leao is in the game? Of course. Logic sub-zero.
That is NOT what I said. I even said that they worked well together when they have a striker between them. Please read my ENTIRE post and stop assuming it is an attack on Leao. I could literally write the same post and swap their names and the same would still be true.
Yes, but last year (September, October, November and December) Pulisic was scoring the same situations he isn’t since January. That is the point. It has nothing to do with Leao? That is the point. Couldn’t be clearer? What changed?
What’s your definition of a sitter. Yes there have been some, but there have also been difficult shots. The last 5-6 games can you show me a good chance he has had on goal? Nada
Yes, ok maybe 15 sitters is a bit too much but the point is he has no confidence and he isn’t scoring what he usually would. I am not attacking Pulisic but the club should have someone work on this mentality with him.
This may sound crazy… but here goes:
If you’re sticking with a 3-5-2, put Pulisic in Modric’s spot and put a striker up front with Leao.
How ’bout it Max? You want to win?
I think Modric plays to centrally for this to work, but I like the idea. Perhaps move one of the wings inside to replace Modric and play Pulisic on the wing.
Pulisic played in the 10 spot quite a bit last season. He’s a better option there than RIcci or Jashari and it would allow for a proper striker up front. And if it works for the last four games, no need to re-sign a 42 year old player and force him on the pitch for the full 90 next season.
Both Leao and Pulisic and mentally fragile and don’t shrug adversity off easily. Between that, fitness issues and a formation that focuses on risk aversion and solidity gets us into the predicament we’re currently in. Need Leao nor Puli can “carry” this team’s offence.
@Max …
Yes, but last year (September, October, November and December) Leao was scoring the same situations he isn’t since the third week of January. That is the point. It has nothing to do with Pulisic? That is the point. Couldn’t be clearer? What changed?
The point is neither Leao or Pulisic is comfortable playing from a central position and especially with their back to the goal. They both need to start out wide and work in toward the goal. Allegri’s “offense” ( if it can even be called that ) is not providing them those opportunities. In Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. Pulisic ( and Leao ) were playing in a front two, yes, but they were playing with another player who is more comfortable in the striker role allowing them both to have more freedom to create from the wings. Now, when they play together, nobody is constantly playing that central back to the goal striker position, so both are struggling.
Yes, but he is missing chances. Not that he suddenly isn’t getting into them at all. He would score 7-10 goals if he was in the same form like he was in let’s say October. Playing wide or central doesn’t change anything when you are on 10 meters from goal and you miss the entire goal. I agree with you that they work better when playing on the wings, but that isn’t a reason why someone suddenly starts missing everything.
I agree that Pulisic has been miss firing frequently in 2026. But then so have all the forwards. The last forward to score was Leao and that was an easy tap in at the end of a game where the opponents were pushing hard to get a tying goal. This is not an attack on Leao, but on Allegri and the seeming complete lack of an offensive game plan. Pulisic also scores quite a few goals by tapping in rebounds. With nobody on the team really getting any shots on goal that are forcing goal tenders to leave rebounds, these opportunities are completely missing in 2026. Rabiot had one on Sunday and if the rebound had gone 2 meters to the keeper’s right, Pulisic was right there and would have banged it in.
I also agree with you about Pulisic’s mental state. I don’t think it is completely the girl friend thing, but that likely contributes. I am sure he is feeling increased pressure with the expectations of him with the home world cup coming up. He knows if his form does not improve he will take a lot of heat this summer. Neither Allegri nor Pochettino is allowing him to play in the position he is most comfortable. It is my contention that if you have a player who needs to break out of a mental funk the best way for the manager to help is to play them where they are most comfortable.
If I can use an America football analogy …
If Tom Bradey was in a slump, you would not ask him to play out of it at wide receiver. You simplify the offense and give him some throws he is comfortable making until he regains his confidence.
I must have missed all those good chances he’s missed the last 5-6 games as I was falling asleep during the game. Many chances for players are them shooting between two defender which the keeper has covered. Last game it was Rabiot’s shot.