“I took a beating everywhere,” Christian Pulisic laughed in Italian after his AC Milan side beat Udinese 3-0 to clinch three wins from three games in Serie A, via Francesco Finulli of Milan News. “Coming here [to Udine] isn’t easy.”
It isn’t, but if anyone could make a trip to resident Serie A bullies Udinese look easy, it’s Pulisic. The American gave a bravura performance against the side, scoring two goals and assisting a third despite being on the receiving end of quite a few crunching tackles. Nothing Udinese did could contain him.
Pulisic’s performance puts him in rarefied air. He’s now the first player in Serie A to reach 25 goals and 15 assists over the past three seasons. He’s also scored more goals in Europe’s top leagues than any American in history: a whopping 59 in total.
“Goals and assists always come,” Pulisic demurred after the match, via sempremilan.com. “Winning trophies and matches is more important.”
With four goal involvements in four games in Serie A this season, it’s clear that Pulisic is onto something good at AC Milan. But can he carry that form back to the United States Men’s National Team? And more importantly, can the USMNT create an environment to help him do it?
A strong support system
There are players—think Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi—who don’t need any help to turn a game on its head. Pulisic isn’t one of them (yet), but that doesn’t mean he can’t be impactful: he just needs the right supporting cast around him to have a Messi-like effect.
At Milan, Pulisic has three key helpers empowering his attacking play: a left-footed left wingback in Pervis Estupinan, a left-footed playmaking midfielder in Adrien Rabiot and a right-footed number ten in Luka Modric. These three float around Pulisic, covering for him defensively when he goes on rangy offensive runs and finding him with through-balls when attacking opportunities become available. If Pulisic was the art against Udinese, these three were his frame, and they ensured he was displayed in the best possible light.
Pulisic hasn’t had the same support within the USMNT under coach Mauricio Pochettino. Instead of floating freely amid plays, Pulisic has been tasked with creating plays of his own, and that forces him into deeper, less dangerous positions on the field. Take a look at the USMNT’s recent win over Japan as an example: while Pulisic had a great game, he found himself supporting striker Folarin Balogun instead of being supported by his teammates.
If the USMNT wants to mimic Milan’s setup for Pulisic, it has the right players on hand to make it happen. It has a left-footed wing back in Antonee Robinson, two left-footed attacking playmakers in Alex Zendejas and Jack McGlynn and a right-footed number ten in Malik Tillman. Pochettino is likely to bring all of these players together for the first time during the USMNT’s friendlies this October. It could be a fantastic opportunity to experiment with a Milan-inspired attacking shape.
Space to roam
Pulisic’s Milan season has been a study in free-roaming creativity. Instead of focusing his runs down one specific flank, Pulisic has been everywhere, moving from the left to the center circle to the defensive line to find the best plays. It’s a new style for Pulisic and one that seems to suit him well. The USMNT hasn’t quite caught up to this shift—it still plays him in a rather rigid role on the left side of the attack—but it would do well to try.
Instead of playing Pulisic behind a traditional striker like Folarin Balogun or Josh Sargent, the USMNT could do what Milan does and put him right alongside one. From there, Pulisic could drift to his heart’s content, creating plays for himself and for the striker in equal measure.
A three-at-the-back revolution
One of the keys to Pulisic’s attacking success with Milan doesn’t come from the attack at all: it comes from the team’s three-man central defense. Instead of playing a traditional four-man line with two deep-lying central defenders and two fullbacks, Milan plays a three-man line focused exclusively on defense and allows its fullbacks to contribute heavily to attacking play.
The USMNT has been a four-man defense kind of team for years…but that appears to be changing. The team’s impressive 2-0 win over Japan in its last outing was powered by a brand-new three-man defensive line that looked awfully similar to Milan’s tried-and-true setup. If Pochettino keeps experimenting with this defense, it should set Pulisic up nicely in the future.
Pulisic will return to action with Milan on Tuesday, Sep. 23 against Lecce in the Coppa Italia. The USMNT will return to action on Friday, Oct. 10 against Ecuador in a pre-World Cup international friendly.