Christian Pulisic on being handed his professional debut by Tuchel, working with him again and confidence ahead of Tottenham
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| Christian Pulisic in action for Chelsea |
In an exclusive interview provided to Chelsea by Christian Pulisic he tells us about working with Thomas Tuchel earlier in his career, the good feeling which is in the dressing room now and why Chelsea's game against Tottenham presents itself as an opportunity.
One wet, cold winters afternoon in western Germany, under the watchful eyes of 80,000 fans Christian Pulisic took his first steps into senior football.
The date the 20th of January 2016, Borussia Dortmund were being held by mid-table side Ingolstadt. With a quarter of the game to go, with Dortmund attacking the famous yellow wall at their colossal Westfalenstadion, Thomas Tuchel then manager of Borussia Dortmund turned to a promising and up and coming 17 year old who had previously starred in Dortmund's junior teams having arrived from America just12 months earlier.
An so off the bench rose Christian Pulisic. Standing out almost immediately with his change in pace and his close control, the winger helped Dortmund score a couple of late goals. A star had been born.
Fast forward almost five years to that day and Pulisic, now a Chelsea player , finds himself under the management of Tuchel again.
He tells us ' I remember making my senior debut under him and remember it being an exciting time.'
'I remember I was playing in the youth team at Borussia Dortmund when the call came to say that I would be training with the first team, and become a full first team member. It was an exciting feeling.
'I remember having to fight my way into the first team because it was a strong team at the time and being a young player in particular I had to work extra hard.'
'The manager put his trust in me and more importantly gave me an opportunity to play, so for that I am extremely grateful . He helped me develop as a young player and I only hold good memories during that time. We had great success together at Dortmund, and it is wonderful to see him again and to work with him once more.'
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| Christian Pulisic during his playing days at Borussia Dortmund |
Just as he did when he made his professional debut almost half a decade ago, Pulisic has come of the bench to good effect in both Thomas Tuchel's games in charge of Chelsea so far. After providing the extra energy and invention in the 0-0 draw against Wolves, the 22 year old set up Marcos Alonso's volley on Sunday having gone close himself to securing the three points in the second half.
Often deployed in a position referred to as a 'kind of false striker' as described by Pulisic himself . The 22 year old confirms that it is a role which he enjoys, mainly because it allows him to get into attacking areas where he has the ability to make a difference. He now hopes to target an injury free conclusion to the campaign so he can have the best chance possible to reach those high performance levels that he reached last summer.
He was asked the question and what of working with Tuchel again?
To which Pulisic responded with 'it's been great so far, 'We have a new outlook on things and we have had a good win so it's been a positive start so far.
'There have been some crazy times recently so just to get a win left all the guys in the dressing room feeling extremely excited. We have enjoyed and had a lot of fun in training and there are smiles on everyone's faces which is nice to see.'
The task which awaits Pulisic and his team mates is a midweek clash against Tottenham, with this comes the opportunity for Chelsea to finally register a victory against one of the so called 'big six' teams and close the gap on some of those teams who currently sit above Chelsea.
Pulisic says ' Now is a good time for us to be playing them having won our last game'.
'We're very confident and excited about this game. It's now a good opportunity to make a statement and more importantly begin to build some real momentum.'
'We are aware of what a good result against a good team will do for us.'
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