What changes for Christian Pulisic at Chelsea with Graham Potter’s arrival?
By Jeff Rueter
Two weeks ago, it seemed like the only way Christian Pulisic would find a pathway to more playing time ahead of the World Cup this winter would be via a loan move away from Chelsea.
Instead, the club have made a far more impactful move that will have wider-ranging implications.
After an uninspiring 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia in their Champions League opener last Tuesday, Chelsea sacked head coach Thomas Tuchel just six games into the Premier League season. Although the German won the 2020-21 Champions League after joining midway through that season and added the Club World Cup title last February, the new owners who arrived at Chelsea this summer decided they needed a fresh face on the touchline to establish greater organizational cohesion.
Among the reasons for Tuchel’s dismissal was a growing number of disgruntled players. From Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner, who both moved on this summer, to retained talents including Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech, several squad members had grown weary of Tuchel’s minute level of management and sideline histrionics.
In his place comes Graham Potter, fresh off of a strong start to the year with Brighton.
Englishman Potter has been a highly-rated coach on the rise for a few years, as he has transitioned Brighton from a more pragmatic lower-mid-table Premier League side into one that has become far easier on the eyes and are currently fourth in the table — above Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United — after a strong start that includes an away win over the latter.
Tactically, Potter isn’t a radical departure from Tuchel. Last season, he alternated between 3-5-2, 3-4-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations, with the first two relying on wing-backs to create width. However, the differences between their approaches to management should bring a new look to Chelsea.
Following Pulisic’s disappointment at Chelsea’s decision to keep him at Stamford Bridge at the close of the summer transfer window 10 days ago, this sudden change in management could help the United States captain get the increase in pre-World Cup playing time he desired.
With Brighton, Potter wasn’t reliant on any one or two systems, and his versatility wasn’t limited to how he set his team up.
Players who were able to fit multiple roles on the pitch were particularly valuable to him, allowing a team on a tighter budget than many Premier League clubs to adjust to injury and take suspensions in stride. The focus on the collective over individual responsibilities became one thing Potter’s players admired.
“The gaffer gives us a clear job to do with the ball and a clear job against the ball,” midfielder Pascal Gross said after last weekend’s 5-2 home win over Leicester City. “You know exactly what he expects from you, as a person and as a team. I know exactly what my job is when we have the ball and against the ball. And I know exactly what my position is within the team — where I can help, where I can be dangerous. That’s why he’s really good.”
Gross came to Brighton from German Bundesliga club Ingolstadt in the summer of 2017 at 26 — an age when most players are viewed as nearly the finished article.
When Potter was appointed two years later, he took the playmaking midfielder and added a couple of new roles to his repertoire. Gross has logged minutes in all areas of midfield, also popping up in both wing-back roles as well as at right-winger and as a second striker.
More relevant to Pulisic’s ability to find pockets of space to receive the ball and make quick decisions as it arrives, Potter has also gotten much out of Leandro Trossard than his previous managers.
Trossard played 5,605 league minutes for Leuven and Genk across four seasons in his native Belgium from 2015-19. He was almost exclusively utilized as an inverted left-winger to cut onto his stronger right foot, occasionally moonlighting as an attacking midfielder.
Signed by Brighton in July 2019, Potter’s first window after replacing Chris Hughton, he has logged 7,937 league minutes for them in a slew of roles: his typical left-winger assignment, as well as center-forward, attacking midfield and right-winger.
Since last season, Potter has also deployed Trossard as an inverted left wing-back. This allowed his three center-back setups to have greater attacking verve without radically changing the team’s shape.
Being deployed throughout the pitch didn’t have a negative impact on Trossard’s play, either. In fact, he made his senior international debut at the end of his first Brighton season at the age of 25. He is now up to 19 caps, including seven won during Belgium’s successful eight-game World Cup qualifying campaign.
After selling Neal Maupay to Everton late in the transfer window, Brighton’s decision to not sign a replacement striker was praised in part due to Trossard’s ability. However, the re-emergence of former England forward Danny Welbeck allowed Potter to return Trossard to left wing-back for the Leicester game, and he rewarded him with a 64th-minute goal.
Even if playing wing-back had been detrimental to Pulisic’s ability to impact games under Tuchel, the way Potter views the role fits the more progressive style of the American’s game.
“There was a narrative that he likes to play centrally and that’s how he scores and assists, but we weren’t quite getting everything that we could,” Potter has said of Trossard amid the Belgian’s strong start to the season. “Actually, on the left, he gives us more qualities. He can assist from there and score from there.”
While Solly March was almost solely utilized as a traditional left-winger by Hughton, Potter converted the left-footed wide man to play both full-back roles — either on his strong left side or inverted on the right.
The way Potter asks his wing-backs to play is closer to the roles of traditional wide midfielders (level or slightly ahead of the central midfielders) than having them predominantly act as defenders.
“I always see myself more as a winger, or attacking wing-back, whatever you want to call it,” March told The Athletic in August. “Leandro is someone you would have thought couldn’t play there and he’s doing well. It’s the way we play, everyone can play everywhere almost.
“At times as a wing-back, you’re almost the highest player on the pitch. It’s definitely more natural (for me) than as a full-back in a four. That’s a lot different. As a wing-back, it’s tough getting back and forward, but I’m enjoying it a lot.”
It’s also worth reiterating just how flexible Potter’s setup can be.
The Athletic’s Brighton reporter Andy Naylor writes: “His go-to setup is a 3-4-3. The central defenders split wide, the wing-backs play high up the pitch. Two central midfielders have two more advanced midfielders in front of them and a center-forward — but the way that Potter teams play is never static or predictable. They rotate.”
That amorphous approach could play right into Pulisic’s strengths if Potter uses it at Chelsea, too.
The same versatility that doomed Pulisic to a squad role under Tuchel could feasibly make him a staple in the starting line-up under his replacement.
Working out of Potter’s preferred 3-4-3 setup, Pulisic could essentially replicate the strengths that have made Trossard so valuable for club and country — someone who can start at either wide-left position, move between both, drop in as a second striker, and (whether ideal or not) shift to right wing-back in a pinch. Having a tireless player who can change roles during a match could help Potter’s substitution selections.
The fact Potter is known to adapt to his players and not enforce a rigid base formation means we can’t confidently know how his Chelsea side will line up when Premier League play resumes after the current postponement following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
However, if he brings similar systems to Chelsea and Pulisic is to be Trossard’s closest comparison, the U.S. international could see some changes to how he’s utilized.
Trossard and Pulisic shoot at similar rates, but the Belgian’s shots came an average of five yards further from the net (impacting the xG rate). One would expect Pulisic to trade some progressive receptions for more progressive passes, as his field position may resemble more of a wide midfielder than a winger.
That wouldn’t necessarily cut into his ability to create shots or take his own, either.
Trossard averaged more shot-creating actions — passes, dribbles, drawing fouls — per 90 minutes than Pulisic. If Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz continue to be preferred in central roles under the new coach, it may suit Pulisic to look for the assist a bit more often.
That mid-game fluidity could also help him overcome one of the young season’s early hurdles.
Sterling’s arrival this summer from Manchester City has resulted in Pulisic seeing fewer minutes at left-winger (and in general).
Despite playing in all seven of Chelsea’s Premier League and Champions League matches, Pulisic has logged just 171 minutes. These have come largely at right wing-back and right-winger. Oddly, Pulisic has yet to be on the field for minutes 61 to 64 of any game this season. He was pulled from his only start in the 60th minute against West Ham last weekend and has not registered more than 26 minutes at a time off the bench.
In a Potter system, Pulisic could have an advantage over more fixed-role colleagues.
If Chelsea needed to fortify in midfield or defensively, Pulisic could shift from wing-back (for Ben Chilwell or Marc Cucurella) to an attacking role. If they’re chasing a goal, he could drop to wing-back to open a place further up the pitch.
While Potter is being reunited with Cucurella, who played for him at Brighton last season, that doesn’t mean the left wing-back position won’t be open to Chilwell, Pulisic or others.
The Spaniard often moved inside to play left center-back in the second half of 2021-22, with Trossard’s inverted approach becoming preferred more often. Of course, Cucurella still found opportunities to work up the field on his way to winning Brighton’s player of the year award.
While Chilwell is still a natural fit for the role, Pulisic may be closer to what Potter utilized in his final months at Brighton.
He will hope the new coach can bring a fresh perspective and find a way to keep him on the field. If so, it may help Chelsea get more out of Pulisic than they have in recent months, while also setting him up to be in top form at the World Cup.
There are reasonable questions as to whether playing as an inverted left wing-back in Potter’s 3-4-3 is useful preparation for his role on the left flank in USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter’s base 4-3-3.
Still, the way in which Potter utilized Trossard gives a case study on an attacker starting further back on the pitch.
Just as the Belgian’s international stock rose with greater two-way importance, Pulisic’s game could become more rounded out under a coach who has become admired for his ability to coax more from established players’ games.
https://theathletic.com/3580930/2022/09/11/christian-pulisic-chelsea-potter/
What changes for Christian Pulisic at Chelsea with Graham Potter’s arrival?
By Jeff Rueter
Two weeks ago, it seemed like the only way Christian Pulisic would find a pathway to more playing time ahead of the World Cup this winter would be via a loan move away from Chelsea.
Instead, the club have made a far more impactful move that will have wider-ranging implications.
After an uninspiring 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia in their Champions League opener last Tuesday, Chelsea sacked head coach Thomas Tuchel just six games into the Premier League season. Although the German won the 2020-21 Champions League after joining midway through that season and added the Club World Cup title last February, the new owners who arrived at Chelsea this summer decided they needed a fresh face on the touchline to establish greater organizational cohesion.
Among the reasons for Tuchel’s dismissal was a growing number of disgruntled players. From Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner, who both moved on this summer, to retained talents including Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech, several squad members had grown weary of Tuchel’s minute level of management and sideline histrionics.
In his place comes Graham Potter, fresh off of a strong start to the year with Brighton.
Englishman Potter has been a highly-rated coach on the rise for a few years, as he has transitioned Brighton from a more pragmatic lower-mid-table Premier League side into one that has become far easier on the eyes and are currently fourth in the table — above Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United — after a strong start that includes an away win over the latter.
Tactically, Potter isn’t a radical departure from Tuchel. Last season, he alternated between 3-5-2, 3-4-3 and 4-2-3-1 formations, with the first two relying on wing-backs to create width. However, the differences between their approaches to management should bring a new look to Chelsea.
Following Pulisic’s disappointment at Chelsea’s decision to keep him at Stamford Bridge at the close of the summer transfer window 10 days ago, this sudden change in management could help the United States captain get the increase in pre-World Cup playing time he desired.
With Brighton, Potter wasn’t reliant on any one or two systems, and his versatility wasn’t limited to how he set his team up.
Players who were able to fit multiple roles on the pitch were particularly valuable to him, allowing a team on a tighter budget than many Premier League clubs to adjust to injury and take suspensions in stride. The focus on the collective over individual responsibilities became one thing Potter’s players admired.
“The gaffer gives us a clear job to do with the ball and a clear job against the ball,” midfielder Pascal Gross said after last weekend’s 5-2 home win over Leicester City. “You know exactly what he expects from you, as a person and as a team. I know exactly what my job is when we have the ball and against the ball. And I know exactly what my position is within the team — where I can help, where I can be dangerous. That’s why he’s really good.”
Gross came to Brighton from German Bundesliga club Ingolstadt in the summer of 2017 at 26 — an age when most players are viewed as nearly the finished article.
When Potter was appointed two years later, he took the playmaking midfielder and added a couple of new roles to his repertoire. Gross has logged minutes in all areas of midfield, also popping up in both wing-back roles as well as at right-winger and as a second striker.
More relevant to Pulisic’s ability to find pockets of space to receive the ball and make quick decisions as it arrives, Potter has also gotten much out of Leandro Trossard than his previous managers.
Trossard played 5,605 league minutes for Leuven and Genk across four seasons in his native Belgium from 2015-19. He was almost exclusively utilized as an inverted left-winger to cut onto his stronger right foot, occasionally moonlighting as an attacking midfielder.
Signed by Brighton in July 2019, Potter’s first window after replacing Chris Hughton, he has logged 7,937 league minutes for them in a slew of roles: his typical left-winger assignment, as well as center-forward, attacking midfield and right-winger.
Since last season, Potter has also deployed Trossard as an inverted left wing-back. This allowed his three center-back setups to have greater attacking verve without radically changing the team’s shape.
Being deployed throughout the pitch didn’t have a negative impact on Trossard’s play, either. In fact, he made his senior international debut at the end of his first Brighton season at the age of 25. He is now up to 19 caps, including seven won during Belgium’s successful eight-game World Cup qualifying campaign.
After selling Neal Maupay to Everton late in the transfer window, Brighton’s decision to not sign a replacement striker was praised in part due to Trossard’s ability. However, the re-emergence of former England forward Danny Welbeck allowed Potter to return Trossard to left wing-back for the Leicester game, and he rewarded him with a 64th-minute goal.
Even if playing wing-back had been detrimental to Pulisic’s ability to impact games under Tuchel, the way Potter views the role fits the more progressive style of the American’s game.
“There was a narrative that he likes to play centrally and that’s how he scores and assists, but we weren’t quite getting everything that we could,” Potter has said of Trossard amid the Belgian’s strong start to the season. “Actually, on the left, he gives us more qualities. He can assist from there and score from there.”
While Solly March was almost solely utilized as a traditional left-winger by Hughton, Potter converted the left-footed wide man to play both full-back roles — either on his strong left side or inverted on the right.
The way Potter asks his wing-backs to play is closer to the roles of traditional wide midfielders (level or slightly ahead of the central midfielders) than having them predominantly act as defenders.
“I always see myself more as a winger, or attacking wing-back, whatever you want to call it,” March told The Athletic in August. “Leandro is someone you would have thought couldn’t play there and he’s doing well. It’s the way we play, everyone can play everywhere almost.
“At times as a wing-back, you’re almost the highest player on the pitch. It’s definitely more natural (for me) than as a full-back in a four. That’s a lot different. As a wing-back, it’s tough getting back and forward, but I’m enjoying it a lot.”
It’s also worth reiterating just how flexible Potter’s setup can be.
The Athletic’s Brighton reporter Andy Naylor writes: “His go-to setup is a 3-4-3. The central defenders split wide, the wing-backs play high up the pitch. Two central midfielders have two more advanced midfielders in front of them and a center-forward — but the way that Potter teams play is never static or predictable. They rotate.”
That amorphous approach could play right into Pulisic’s strengths if Potter uses it at Chelsea, too.
The same versatility that doomed Pulisic to a squad role under Tuchel could feasibly make him a staple in the starting line-up under his replacement.
Working out of Potter’s preferred 3-4-3 setup, Pulisic could essentially replicate the strengths that have made Trossard so valuable for club and country — someone who can start at either wide-left position, move between both, drop in as a second striker, and (whether ideal or not) shift to right wing-back in a pinch. Having a tireless player who can change roles during a match could help Potter’s substitution selections.
The fact Potter is known to adapt to his players and not enforce a rigid base formation means we can’t confidently know how his Chelsea side will line up when Premier League play resumes after the current postponement following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
However, if he brings similar systems to Chelsea and Pulisic is to be Trossard’s closest comparison, the U.S. international could see some changes to how he’s utilized.
Trossard and Pulisic shoot at similar rates, but the Belgian’s shots came an average of five yards further from the net (impacting the xG rate). One would expect Pulisic to trade some progressive receptions for more progressive passes, as his field position may resemble more of a wide midfielder than a winger.
That wouldn’t necessarily cut into his ability to create shots or take his own, either.
Trossard averaged more shot-creating actions — passes, dribbles, drawing fouls — per 90 minutes than Pulisic. If Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz continue to be preferred in central roles under the new coach, it may suit Pulisic to look for the assist a bit more often.
That mid-game fluidity could also help him overcome one of the young season’s early hurdles.
Sterling’s arrival this summer from Manchester City has resulted in Pulisic seeing fewer minutes at left-winger (and in general).
Despite playing in all seven of Chelsea’s Premier League and Champions League matches, Pulisic has logged just 171 minutes. These have come largely at right wing-back and right-winger. Oddly, Pulisic has yet to be on the field for minutes 61 to 64 of any game this season. He was pulled from his only start in the 60th minute against West Ham last weekend and has not registered more than 26 minutes at a time off the bench.
In a Potter system, Pulisic could have an advantage over more fixed-role colleagues.
If Chelsea needed to fortify in midfield or defensively, Pulisic could shift from wing-back (for Ben Chilwell or Marc Cucurella) to an attacking role. If they’re chasing a goal, he could drop to wing-back to open a place further up the pitch.
While Potter is being reunited with Cucurella, who played for him at Brighton last season, that doesn’t mean the left wing-back position won’t be open to Chilwell, Pulisic or others.
The Spaniard often moved inside to play left center-back in the second half of 2021-22, with Trossard’s inverted approach becoming preferred more often. Of course, Cucurella still found opportunities to work up the field on his way to winning Brighton’s player of the year award.
While Chilwell is still a natural fit for the role, Pulisic may be closer to what Potter utilized in his final months at Brighton.
He will hope the new coach can bring a fresh perspective and find a way to keep him on the field. If so, it may help Chelsea get more out of Pulisic than they have in recent months, while also setting him up to be in top form at the World Cup.
There are reasonable questions as to whether playing as an inverted left wing-back in Potter’s 3-4-3 is useful preparation for his role on the left flank in USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter’s base 4-3-3.
Still, the way in which Potter utilized Trossard gives a case study on an attacker starting further back on the pitch.
Just as the Belgian’s international stock rose with greater two-way importance, Pulisic’s game could become more rounded out under a coach who has become admired for his ability to coax more from established players’ games.
https://theathletic.com/3580930/2022/09/11/christian-pulisic-chelsea-potter/