For the second straight game, Chelsea FC manager Frank Lampard completely benched the club’s $73 million January signing Christian Pulisic. The American star was an unused substitute tonight in Chelsea’s 1-0 loss at home to Valencia in Champions League group stage play.
He was named to the team but didn’t see a second of action in the 5-2 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers on on the weekend as well. Beyond that, he wasn’t even the first to be subbed on when Mason Mount was injured. Sure, Pedro might have been a little better suited for this match, but Lampard’s explanation for Pulisic’s benching rang extremely hollow:
“He is in the plans, we have got the squad and the wingers to choose from, with Pedro’s experience in the Champions League it was a decision to make, but Christian is well in the plans.”
Okay, but where in the plans? He probably won’t be ahead of Willian on the depth chart either, as the Brazilian was your man of the match for the Blues tonight. And when Callum Hudson-Odoi comes back, the competition for places will get even fiercer.
This past international break, Pulisic opened up on how he believes his first month at Chelsea has gone. He said all the proverbial right things, but he’s obviously off to a rough start, and he hasn’t seen a minute of action since returning from that break.
Of course, Pulisic was far from the story in this one. Chelsea played well beyond good enough to win, and they held a lot of statistical advantages on the La Liga side. However, the Blues just couldn’t score, and Ross Barkley’s disastrous penalty miss was the talk of this match.
Barkley’s misplaced sense of confidence here is laudable given how ineffective he’s been at Chelsea https://t.co/GyJUZz0rdQ
— Adam Newson (@AdamNewson) September 17, 2019
Lampard added: “Ross is a penalty taker and is when he starts games. He took it and missed it. It is a great story to say there is contention between players. If he scores it is not a story. But he took it and missed. That is it. The disappointment to all of us is that we didn’t get chance to win the game. There is no issue in the dressing room.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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