Chelsea coach, Frank Lampard has dismissed the claims of Red Bull Salzburg coach, Jesse Marsch. Marsch earlier claimed that the Blues coach took the American winger, Christian Pulisic’s talent lightly when he joined Stamford Bridge.
It was the previous year when Chelsea signed Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund at a £58 million (€64m/$75m) deal and it was the same season when Lampard got his first managerial job for Chelsea. The U.S international played against Salzburg in that year’s pre-season game and scored two goals.
But then he started slowly in competitive matches under the newly appointed manager, Frank Lampard but eventually got into the first XI through hard work. After the COVID-19 break when football resumed, Christian Pulisic showed the form of his life at Chelsea. He single-handedly tore the defences of big Premier League clubs like Man City and Liverpool. The opposition found it very difficult to face the pacy and quick-footed winger who also helped in assisting goals.
He played in the FA Cup final against Arsenal where he was injured and returned to match fitness two weeks ago recently. Pulisic scored in the Krasnodar match of Champions League’s 4-0 win. Lampard showed that he has faith in the No.10 of Chelsea and said that he has never doubted the talents of Americans.
“I did read the comments and I was surprised that Jesse had managed to read my mind as well as he thought he did. He’s recounted the conversation wrong so I have to put it correct.”
“It was a game against Salzburg in pre-season where Christian scored two goals and I spoke to Jesse after about what a talented player he was and how exciting it was to see how he could develop for us with the talent he has. That was the conversation and Jesse managed to put it across slightly differently,” said Lampard.
“I played in America for 18 months and I would never underestimate the desire that American players have to learn and improve and take on information and understand the technical side of the game. When you have that, which Christian has, along with incredible talent, it was never in doubt for me.”
“It’s clearly the toughest league in the world to come and play in at a young age from a different league. Some of the greatest players in Premier League history have felt that.
What Christian did was find his feet very quickly and have a breakthrough season where he produced more goals and assists than he has done before so I thought his performance last season was massively impressive and he will keep getting better and I never doubted it in the first place. As a manager, I never doubted him and it’s important for me to put that straight.”
“Christian played a lot of good games for us last season, he’s an important player for us, came on and we saw his qualities,” he said. “It was important he had some rest last night because he’d played three games for us in a week after coming back from injury. So I have to keep a balance, and also keep consistency and stability in the starting XI,” he added, as reported by Metro.
The USMNT captain’s performance in the previous term was one of the best in the Premier League and the coach was keen to see him regain his match fitness again this campaign. Pulisic started from the bench in Russia and came on to score a goal in the dying minutes of the match.
