1. His ability to tear down defences.
We all saw the destruction that Christian Pulisic was causing to defences towards the end of last season.
Many teams just couldn’t cope with his explosive bursts of acceleration and devastating agility with the ball at his feet.
His ability to completely change a game is not unlike the magic we saw from Eden Hazard during his time at Stamford Bridge, when even if Chelsea weren’t playing well, Eden Hazard had the ability to create something out of nothing and pick up wins even when they were playing poorly.
This is something that we saw Chelsea struggle with last season, particularly through the winter months when Pulisic was out with an injury.
Chelsea often lost points when they played poorly, where in previous seasons they could rely on a moment of magic from Eden Hazard to secure a result.
If Pulisic is going to be the talisman for Chelsea going forward, he has to be that player that can turn a game in an instant.
The dribbling ability is there, but at times the young American has been lacking that final bit of end product, and when presented with a decision he sometimes tends to make the wrong call.
This will obviously come with time and experience, but Christian Pulisic is already one of the most dangerous players in Chelsea’s squad at such a young age, which is why he’s been earmarked by many fans as the future talisman of the team.
Injuries have severely impacted his season so far (always that hamstring), so he hasn’t looked quite as sharp when he’s played as he did last season.
He seems to be over the worst of his injury problems (touch wood) now, and needs to focus on getting back in the starting eleven and playing consistently.
When he gets back in the team, we should start to see him come back to his best form, and Chelsea will become a much more dangerous team with him in the fold, because of his special ability with the ball at his feet.
Tuchel has to make sure that Pulisic is playing in a position where he is in the game and can cause damage to the opposition defence without being easily marked out of the game.
The problem towards the end of last season was that some teams found a way to isolate him from the game, making it hard for him to get on the ball and influence the game, especially the teams that tend to play a low block, which gave Pulisic very little space in which to work with.
This was an overall problem with the whole team last season, so they have to find a way to break down these resolute teams and get the ball to players like Pulisic more frequently, otherwise Chelsea will really struggle to pick up points against teams that set up to defend.
2. Goal scoring ability – with both feet!
After football returned in June last season, we saw Pulisic turn into a real goal scoring threat, scoring excellent goals against teams like Manchester City and Liverpool (not to mention that amazing assist for Tammy Abraham).
This is something that Pulisic needs to continue doing for Chelsea.
It’s all good being an exceptional dribbler with the ball, but Chelsea will need Pulisic to become a reliable scorer and creator of goals if he is to nail himself down as the main man for Chelsea for the next 5 years or so.
We also saw in him last season not just the ability to score good technical goals, but also the ability to arrive in the box off the wing at the right time to score a few tap-ins, something which has become a much needed quality for a world class wide player.
This ability to arrive in the box and play as another striker at times is something often seen in the games of players like Mane and Salah for Liverpool, and Raheem Sterling for Manchester City.
Every wide player that has reached the elite level of the game in recent years has been capable of cutting inside from the wing and arriving late at the back post.
This has been something that has pretty much become a requirement for wide players ever since the rise of players like Robben and Ribery for Bayern Munich, in comparison to the traditional winger of a few years ago.
For Pulisic to reach his potential and become the key player in this Chelsea team, he needs to be able to do this not-so-inspiring part of the game.
If he can perfect his ability to arrive in the box then it will only be a matter of time before he becomes recognised as one of the elite.
His finishing is pretty good at this point, it’s more his off the ball movement that will catapult him into a better player, as well as perfecting his ability to pick out that final pass to a teammate.
This final bit of end product will come with time, but it’s still disappointing when he does so well to get into a dangerous position, having done all the hard work, only to let himself down with a lacklustre final ball to a teammate.
Although not the finished article, Pulisic’s ability to score goals along with his direct style of play is something that Chelsea will soon see as indispensable to their playstyle, as they don’t have many others within their squad who is capable of this, the closest being Callum Hudson Odoi, who has started playing a wing-back role under Tuchel.
3. Tuchel has big plans for Pulisic
Having played under Tuchel during his come-up at Borussia Dortmund, Pulisic will already be familiar with the Germans philosophies and ideas.
If anyone is going to get the absolute best out of him, it will be Tuchel.
Although it has to be said that the current 3-4-2-1 system that Tuchel is using does not exactly suit Pulisic, who prefers to pick the ball up wide on the wing and move inside with the ball into the number 10 area looking to make a dangerous play, either towards goal or to a teammate.
Pulisic looked much more dangerous when playing as a more conventional winger in a system like a 4-3-3, where he could pick the ball up in wide areas and use his acceleration and agility to either run inside or down the line to open up opportunities for Chelsea to score.
But in the new formation under Tuchel, Pulisic has struggled to find the space to use his dynamic running, as he picks up the ball in the position that is usually where he ends his runs.
So when he gets the ball, he often has no options and no space to work with, which is why he has been prone to losing the ball fairly easily.
We could also just be looking too much into it – and it could just be a lack of sharpness after struggling with injuries.
It’s probably a mix of both to be honest – and combined they have made Pulisic look a shadow of the player we saw towards the end of last season.
There is no doubting his ability, and on his day he is Chelsea’s best player – Tuchel knows about his ability and has him as a key part in his plans.
It seems however, that Tuchel is still looking for a place to play Pulisic in his new formation, as he has played a number of positions since the new manager came in, including as a false nine, and playing as one of the number 10s behind the striker.
It is possible that Pulisic could adapt his game to be able to play in one of these roles – but if Tuchel really wants to get the best out of him he will have to play him as a winger, a role which suits his style much more.
If you want to check out more about Tuchel’s plans for this Chelsea team then click the link.
4. Direct – Always looking to drive forward.
One of the reasons why Pulisic was such an important player for Chelsea post-lockdown last season was his directness with the ball at his feet.
He was always looking to drive towards goal and into dangerous forward positions where he could create goal scoring opportunities, which gave opposition defences absolute nightmares (just look at what he did to Liverpool last year).
His ability to be direct and drive forward makes him a unique player for Chelsea – no one else in the squad is able to do this as well as him, although they do have a lot of attacking talent – with the likes of Mason Mount, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz all very good options in forward positions.
Pulisic offers something completely different to these players – he plays with a much more direct style compared to the playmaking style of players like Havertz and Mount.
Instead of looking to pick passes and play his way through the opposition, Pulisic looks to drive towards the goal when he has the ball – using his acceleration and footwork to get past defenders.
This gives Chelsea a different option in attack, and last season he was regularly the most dangerous player for Chelsea, thanks to his ability to carve open teams by himself.
In the early stages of Tuchel’s reign at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have struggled in creating chances – often playing very well in games but not scoring as many goals as they perhaps should be.
This is why Pulisic is so key to Chelsea – if Tuchel can get him in a position where he is able to frequently drive at the opposition – it will inevitably open up space for his teammates to exploit.
His incision and urgency are the exact qualities that Chelsea need right now, who have looked to lack that spark in the final third.
