The USMNT star is playing as a striker of sorts for his new manager, and it might prove to be a valuable learning experience
So, Christian Pulisic has a new manager at AC Milan. Is this a good thing? The American was truly excellent under Stefano Pioli for about 18 months, and has, in various stretches, looked good under three new managers since. Paulo Fonseca managed 24 matches and did a decent job with Pulisic. Sergio Conceicao was the battle-hardened interim guy who never really got the best out of him.
And now we have Max Allegri, the oft-maligned Italian, here for his second stint at Milan. Allegri is a curious manager. His teams are, typically, excellent defensively. They play Italian football as it was always envisioned: physical, hard-to-beat, opportunistic. Allegri sides will never blow you away. Instead, they're here to beat you down by pure attrition. A good Allegri team frustrates you, gives you nothing, and, basically forces you to give up.
In many ways, it's a defensive player's dream. But for attackers, it can be a bit limiting. When structure is everything, attacking players who like to play with freedom tend to suffer. And that is the crucial trade-off. Milan are going to be a nightmare to play against – but they're not going to score loads of goals.
That leaves Pulisic in a bit of a tricky situation. And Allegri doesn't quite know how to use him. Pulisic has already played a bit of everywhere under the new boss, Allegri floating him around from position-to-position as he finds the right spot. Twice, though, Pulisic has been used almost as a striker, often the furthest player forward in a team without an attacking focal point.
On paper, it doesn't make loads of sense. Yet analyze things a little deeper, and it could be an intriguing set up that gets something different out of Pulisic's arsenal.
GOAL US looks at how the USMNT star's game could change under the new manager.
Getty Images SportThe faults of Allegri ball
There are two ways of looking at Allegri's managerial style. The first, and perhaps most obvious one, is to praise him for what he has achieved. The Italian's record makes for excellent reading. He has won Serie A five times and Coppa Italia five times. He has effectively managed numerous legends of the game, and been routinely praised for his man management and willingness to give young talent opportunities to play. Much like Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte, Allegri may be boring, but, well, scoreboard.
And then there's the other way of analyzing things. Allegri is boring. He is an ideologue to an absolute fault. He has an established way of playing. It has brought him results in the past. But it is not football that keeps fans happy, nor is it a style that has yielded any sort of success in recent years.
Allegri's last Serie A win was 2019. He was sacked by Juventus in 2024 after finishing third, 23 points behind league-winning Inter. That team lost the second-fewest games in the league, but were simply woeful in front of goal, managing just 54 goals in 38 games – some 35 less than the Scudetto victors.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportAllegri's Milan vision
This doesn't seem, then, like the ideal circumstances for Pulisic to establish himself again. Remember, it has been a strange few months for the USMNT star, who ended the campaign on a rather tepid note, and then made headlines for the wrong reasons after dropping out of the Gold Cup squad. This doesn't mean that the handbrake has to be ripped off, but Pulisic could perhaps do with more of an attacking coach.
Well, Allegri isn't that. Still, what can he offer?
His Milan set up, so far at least, has been intriguing. Like many previous iterations of his sides, Allegri has packed the midfield with hard-working runners capable of covering ground. His wing backs, in this case Pervis Estupinan and Alexis Saelemaekers, are markedly balanced players who can do a bit of everything. They are shielded by three no-nonsense centerbacks and a goalkeeper who likes to play long. So far, so normal.
But up front is where things get intriguing. Against Bari, Allegri used Rafa Leao and Pulisic as a striking duo of sorts, effectively trusting his two fastest and most creative players to do all of the hard work up front – score, assist, win the long balls. Milan won. Against Cremonese, Pulisic played alongside Mexico's Santi Gimenez, a more recognizable striker, but not an all round No. 9. Milan lost.
Getty Images SportMatch winning against Bari
That Bari game, though, offered some promise. Playing Leao and Pulisic alongside each other in narrow roles was always going to be something of a risk. Leao likes to start out wide and cut in. He relies on space. Pulisic, meanwhile, sort of roams, taking his spots here and there. Without a focal point, it could have all gone wrong. Instead, Pulisic starred – especially when Leao went off.
He scored one goal, was crucial in the build up to another, and created more chances than anyone on the pitch. He also hit the woodwork – and might have easily finished the game with three had it not been for some goalkeeping heroics. He had more touches in the Bari box than any other Milan player.
And while there were some concerns about his tactical fit, Pulisic got it mostly right, and thrived in a slightly narrower role – even if he was asked to reject his instinct to press higher up the pitch.
And to round things off, Milan were markedly worse when Pulisic wasn't on the pitch. It was, in total, 66 remarkably convincing minutes.
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Getty Images SportEffective in defeat against Cremonense
The Cremonese game was different. More broadly, it showed the issues with Allegri as a whole. Milan controlled the tempo and structure of the game, but never really offered much in the way of convincing play. They registered 24 shots, but yielded just 1.66 expected goals. Cremonese keeper Emil Audero had just four saves to make, while Milan's only goal came from a cross from one full back to another.
Pulisic, for his part, still managed to play something of a role. He created four chances, put a shot on goal, and looked dangerous when he had the ball in the final-third. The result was not on him. But he did also look lost defensively at times. There were instances where he clearly wanted to press, but instead had to hold his position. Even from a losing spot, Milan were told to hold.
Pulisic looked defeated at full time, even angry. This is a long season in which mistakes will inevitably be made, but there are few justifications for losing to a team that hasn't played in Serie A since 2023.