Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has been slammed for his treatment of Christian Pulisic after the winger came off the bench to score the winner against West Ham on Saturday afternoon. The Blues laboured to a 1-0 win against the Hammers, and the American provided the necessary spark.
But Pulisic has remained a bit-part player for Chelsea under Tuchel this season, rarely trusted from the start of matches. The 23-year-old has scored just five goals this season, although he has only played 17 times in the Premier League. The German recently claimed that Pulisic had seen his minutes limited of late after playing three times for the USA during the latest international break.
Tuchel claims the effects of that period are still being felt by the player, but his compatriot and former USMNT striker Herculez Gomez doesn't agree with the excuse. He claims that it is a continuation of a pattern of behaviour typical of Tuchel and that Pulisic is not the only star to suffer.
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"Are you serious? Are you trying to tell me a 23-year-old can't recover in time? He's got jet lag?" he told ESPN. "But Thiago Silva is 37 years old, who does 11-plus hour flights to Brazil, or wherever he's got to go to play in South America, can? Is he alright?
"No, this is Thomas Tuchel doing what Thomas Tuchel does. If you're an offensive player, only two of them have really shown that they can be in the trust circle of Thomas Tuchel.
"That's Mason Mount, and that's Kai Havertz. Everybody else - [Hakim] Ziyech, get on out of here, [Romelu] Lukaku, get on out of here, Timo Werner, get on out of here, [Callum] Hudson-Odoi, are you even around? Christian Pulisic, you're out of here as well.
"This is what he does, he makes these players feel uneasy, he makes them wait. And Christian Pulisic has been through this before. Not just here, he's been through it at Dortmund with him. This is part of the course with Thomas Tuchel."
