Christian Pulisic looks for individual, collective improvement from Chelsea

Christian Pulisic was back in the Chelsea starting lineup on Wednesday after making just one substitute appearance in the previous three games, but unfortunately his return wasn’t enough for the team to find some cutting edge in the final third. César Azpilicueta’s opening goal, from a corner scramble, was not enough in the end, and the Blues had to settle for a share of the points on the South Coast.

Pulisic, like most, placed the blame for that at the feet of the offense, lamenting his own and the team’s collective shortcomings in effort, application, and most crucially, decision-making.

“Before half-time we had a chance to kill the game and we weren’t able to. We have had troubles with putting the game to bed this year. It’s a mixture of mentality and technical training. We need to do a bit more to keep going, attack, create chances and have that killer instinct.

“It’s about being clinical, experience and knowing how to manage a game. We’re missing that a bit, I can do better with that as well, playing the right pass or finding the right shot.”

-Christian Pulisic; source: Chelsea FC

Pulisic, like most in the team, isn’t hiding from the responsibility and the challenge. But with just 10 goals scored in our last 9 games across all competitions — since Pulisic himself found the back of the net against Valencia in late November — improvement is required if we are to maintain our top-four credentials.

But first, the FA Cup!