Premier League fans, particularly Chelsea fans, will remember the promise that USA international Christian Pulisic brought with him upon his arrival at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2019.
After impressing at Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund for a number of seasons as a youngster, Pulisic showed some real potential early on at Chelsea, bagging 18 goal contributions in 32 games in all competitions in his debut season at the bridge.
Due to various reasons, including injuries, his output and performance decreased as his time at the club went on, but he seems to have rediscovered his best form in Serie A, playing an important attacking role for AC Milan.
Pulisic contributed an impressive 26 goal contributions in 50 games in all competitions last season and has opened his 2024/25 campaign in astonishing form – he has eight goal contributions in 10 games in all competitions so far. He is currently on a historic run of form…
At the time of writing, Pulisic has contributed a goal in each of his last seven games for Milan—the first player in Europe’s top five leagues to achieve such a feat this season, a sign of his importance to Milan’s tactics.
In this scout report, we will provide a tactical analysis of Pulisic’s hot form in the early stages of this season.
The analysis will also discuss his role within Milan’s tactics, both in and out of possession.
Christian Pulisic Position Overview
This percentile chart tells us how Pulisic has started the 2024/25 season in comparison to other RAMFs (RWs not included in this particular graph) in tier 1 leagues (Europe’s top five leagues).
A few things jump out immediately, notably his goal contributions and expected goal contributions, telling us that he has been getting into dangerous positioning and being a dangerous threat in the final third.
Interestingly, though, he has a low engagement in dribbles per 90 – we’ll touch on this later in the analysis.
When it comes to passing, as you may imagine, Pulisic sees a lot of the ball during build-up phases for AC Milan, and he uses that to be a consistent threat in terms of dangerous passes.
Christian Pulisic Heat Map & Touch Map
The graphics above give you an idea of Pulisic’s general positioning, where you’re most likely to see him operate.
Christian Pulisic’s style of play is positionally versatile.
He can play on the left or as a 10.
He has played in these roles for a short time this season, but his primary role has been an attacking presence on the right flank.
As we will explain in more detail when necessary in this analysis, Pulisic likes to operate wide initially but is no stranger to drifting centrally to play as an inverted winger of sorts.
Striking up a strong partnership with the right-back is vital for any right-winger, and that is an integral part of AC Milan’s tactics under Paulo Fonseca’s coaching style.
We see this in Figure 3 above.
Milan has Fiorentina pinned fairly deep, allowing their midfield to dictate the tempo.
Notice the width of Milan’s attacking shape – Pulisic and right-back Emerson Royal are both wide and in an attacking position, with the latter instantly making an underlapping run when it looks as though possession could be spread out to the right flank.
This is noteworthy as it is clearly tactical—the right-back pushing on in the half-space while the winger hangs back slightly and is in a wider position.
Operating this way tactically is likely a decision made by Fonseca to allow the creative likes of Pulisic to pick the ball up in slightly deeper positions – Royal’s run will drag the Fiorentina left-back with him, opening some wide space up for Pulisic to attack.
Christian Pulisic’s Defensive Role
Pulisic is a hard worker when it comes to his defensive contribution.
However, Milan aren’t an aggressive team under Paulo Fonseca’s managerial style.
At the time of writing, Fonseca’s team has the lowest challenge intensity in Serie A (3.9) and a high PPDA of 14.01, indicative of a more reserved defensive approach.
Pulisic, though, often shows good tactical and game understanding to fit into those tactics well.
That isn’t to say that Pulisic’s game lacks aggression and intensity; he can be particularly effective in defensive transitions and during moments when Milan looks to execute micro counter-pressing actions.
We see that in Figure 4, with the USA international showing determination to sprint back and eventually taking the ball away from the Fiorentina man around the halfway line during a potentially dangerous counterattack for Milan’s opponents.
Figure 5 demonstrates Milan’s defensive tactics along with Pulisic’s role within that setup, depending on his position.
A compact mid-block that sometimes involves a high defensive line and also often requires the wide men to tuck inside and push up closer to the forwards.
The top image shows where Pulisic is expected to be located when playing in a central attacking midfield role, while the bottom image shows his defensive role when playing in his preferred RW role.
In these kinds of areas, there is little engagement in terms of pressing the opposition backline, patiently waiting for a moment to swarm the ball and pounce in midfield zones.
Christian Pulisic Ball Progression & Role In Build-Up Play
While Pulisic’s goal contributions have grabbed the headlines this season, his ball progression and his role during Milan’s build-up phases are key parts of his game under Paulo Fonseca’s tactics.
From carrying the ball over large distances to making progressive passes that quickly further Milan’s possession, Pulisic possesses both the technical ability and mental capacity to be effective in those moments.
Christian Pulisic Progressive Passes Map
His map of progressive passes gives us some good insight into the demands of his roles based on zone/positioning.
When located wide on the right flank, whether it’s slightly deeper or nearer to the edge of the box, his progressive passes rarely go into the box.
Instead, they often go down the line – that link-up with the right-back, among other players, coming in clutch there.
When he’s drifted inside and operating more centrally, he has the ability to play progressive passes into the box, potentially creating a chance on goal.
The contrast between these two types of progressive passes suggests that Pulisic is versatile and adaptable, depending on the situation.
Serie A Progressive Passes Per 90 Vs Accurate Progressive Passes Percentage Chart
When it comes to his engagement & accuracy of progressive passes in comparison to other RW and RAMFs in Serie A, Pulisic is above the average for that description for both metrics, telling us that he really is effective at progressing the ball on a regular basis.
For further context, another RW/RAMF at AC Milan, Samuel Chukwueze, offers a similar success rate for progressive passes but does offer a higher engagement on average; perhaps some insight into their individual roles.
Christian Pulisic Ball Progression Map
Ball progression is an essential part of Pulisic’s game, which is why he suits Milan’s tactics well.
That includes how he moves possession forward by carrying the ball over more considerable distances, as Figure 8 above shows.
As expected, most of these progressive runs occur on the right flank from around the halfway line, as Pulisic will be looking to inject some pace and urgency into Milan’s attack at that point.
Interestingly, he hasn’t made any progressive dribbles higher up the pitch on the right flank when taking the ball toward the byline.
In fact, the higher up these runs occur, the more Pulisic seems to angle inside rather than push the ball wide.
Serie A Progressive Runs Per 90 Vs Successful Dribbles Percentage Chart
Earlier, we mentioned Pulisic’s low engagement in dribbles, but dribbles and progressive runs are different.
A dribble can be even the shortest of journeys with the ball in any direction, often against an opponent.
At the same time, progressive runs are exclusively movements with the ball over larger distances that move the ball closer to the opponent’s goal, without or without opposition pressure.
As the data above shows, Pulisic has one of the highest engagement levels for progressive runs in comparison to RW/RAMFs in Serie A, which means he is very dangerous when it comes to carrying the ball forward in that position.
His dribble success rate of 59.09% indicates a technical strength on the ball – the importance of his low engagement level for dribbles and high engagement level for progressive runs is likely more of an insight into the tactical instructions set by Fonseca at Milan.
This example shows us how Pulisic’s mind works in terms of his attacking intentions on the ball.
In the position he is in the image above, we’d often see a midfielder turn back to play a safe pass to the nearby centre-back with the intention of recycling possession.
Instead, Pulisic instantly dropped his shoulder and darted forward with the ball, injecting pace into the Milan attack immediately.
The decision-making here – the urge to drive forward instead of playing it safe, tells us a lot about the type of player Pulisic is.
Christian Pulisic Penetrating Carries Map
Figure 11 relates to the previous analysis image in terms of representing Pulisic’s attacking intent to drive the ball forward, only this graph shows the times when he’s carried the ball into the box.
As we touched on earlier, Pulisic likes to drive inwards from the right flank at times.
This includes the ability to drive into central areas inside the box from an initial wide right area.
Pulisic has made an impressive 32 penetrating carries so far this season in Serie A.
Despite playing on the right most of the time, a good chunk of those 32 comes from central positions, even slightly off to the left.
We know Pulisic is a player with immense pace, and he’s now putting that to great use at Milan.
Christian Pulisic Attacking Threat
Pulisic’s impressive goal-contribution run of seven consecutive games was a big reason behind the writing of this analysis—he seems to have found a place in Milan’s tactics that suit him down the ground.
We mentioned his strong goal-contribution presence last season, and if he can stay fit and firing in 2024/25, he will boast some awe-inspiring numbers come the end of the season.
Currently, he has the third-highest number of goal contributions in Serie A this season.
Christian Pulisic Shot Assists Map
Last season, assists were vital to his game—11 in all competitions, and he currently has two this season, both from corners.
2.12 shot assists per 90 is nothing to be frowned upon in terms of creative involvement
As the map shows, though, he is also dangerous when it comes to providing shot assists from central areas.
If, though, there’s one area that Pulisic would like to improve on at the moment, it would likely be his creative output directly from the right flank – while he knows that he likes to drive inside with the ball before laying a pass off, adding that extra element to his game would be a great asset.
Serie A Key Passes Per 90 Vs Passes To Penalty Area Per 90 Chart
This graph provides further context for Pulisic’s creative involvement at AC Milan.
0.53 key passes is not a bad stat—it’s above average for RW/RAMFs in Serie A—but he will want to improve that over the season.
But as we see, which we touched on briefly earlier, his ability to provide passes into the box from his position is a key part of his game and part of why he can be so dangerous, making 3.45 passes to the box per 90.
Christian Pulisic Shots Map
His shot map tells us that while he isn’t taking a high number of attempts on goal, he is certainly taking his chances well when they do come, particularly inside the box.
His shot accuracy of 66.67% is the joint-best rate in Serie A currently, so it’s safe to say that Pulisic really is wearing his shooting boots.
Six goals in all competitions this season and 15 last season – those kinds of numbers from a flank player are a sign of a genuine attacking threat.
Conclusion
Due to his potential, Christian Pulisic garnered a lot of attention during his Dortmund and early Chelsea days, and it seems we are now seeing him begin to fulfil that potential.
With an entire season under his belt at AC Milan, Pulisic has shown that he can score goals and assists and be a constant attacking threat.
He’s seemingly carried that form into this campaign as well, which is part of the reason Milan has had a pleasing start to the Serie A season.
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