Pulisic soars, Richards plants his flag, and Americans are settling in to new roles: USxNT Weekend.

It’s a busy time for US Soccer fans as domestic leagues are entering the homestretch, while their European counterparts are finding their form through the first month of the season. It’s a lot, but luckily, this newsletter is here to plug the gaps in your knowledge ahead of the next international window for national teams. 

Today, we’ll check in with Alyssa Thompson as she starts life in Chelsea, seemingly on a similar attacker turned wingback journey that had an interesting impact on Christian Pulisic’s trajectory. Pulisic had the game of his life this past weekend for Milan, highlighting a banner weekend for some of the USMNT’s most important players. A tier that Houston Dash attacker Yazmeen Ryan hopes to play into with her form over the past two season. 

Alright, let’s talk that soccer. 

How has Alyssa Thompson looked in London?

Thompson is still settling into life in the WSL, and Sophia Bompastor is still working out the kinks on her end as well. Thompson has had to adjust; no longer is she the go-to player on the wing in a pretty standard 4-3-3; instead, she’s been used shortly as a hybrid forward opposite Macario, and as the left-sided wingback in Bompastor’s 3-4-3, replacing Sandy Baltimore. 

It’s early, Thompson has only played 90 minutes across the last two matchdays, but the returns show a directness that Chelsea doesn’t have elsewhere this season. 

AT is tied for the Chelsea lead in xAG and 7th in the entire WSL with four passes into the penalty area. There is a world where Thompson’s ability to win duels as the defensive width in the formation sees Baltimore continue to start, but no Chelsea player has generated more shot-creating actions this season.

The real test will come as Chelsea head into a tough October slate of matches, kicking off Champions League play against FC Twente on October 8th. 

Pulisic’s role helps AC Milan find their bag.

Christian Pulisic needed a night like this.

The USMNT’s talisman seemed to be caught in the mixer of Massimiliano Allegri’s AC Milan takeover. Pulisic put any hesitation over Allegri’s choice at the top of his pseudo-positionless 3-5-2 to bed when he involved himself in every single goal through AC Milan’s 0-3 win over Udinese.  

It’s essentially a striker-less system with the goals coming from Pulisic and, in this case, Santi Giminéz running the channels with freedom to swap sides and fuel the wingbacks on their overlapping runs. 

It feels odd to call Pulisic the striker in this situation because Milan essentially didn’t play with one until Christopher Nkunku and Ruben Loftus-Cheek replaced the pair in the 63rd minute.

Pulisic will play many different roles in the attack this season, but his work Saturday night may have been some of his best since arriving in Serie A.

His first goal of the night was simple. Pulisic floated into the dead space between Udinese’s crashing lines and pounced on a deflected ball, dunking the easy effort with Udinese keeper Razvan Sava deposed in the fracas. Just after halftime, Milan was still in control. Still, a wasteful ball past Pulisic turned into a second goal as the forward pressured Jesper Karlström’s lazy recovery, forcing a turnover straight to Youssouf Fofana to make it 0-2. 

Then, Milan turned it up to 11, unleashing a gorgeous counter-attack after cycling the ball through Pietro Terracciano. Pulisic finished off the movement, finding himself open on the ball after a sloping run through the middle of the pitch and into the empty space in front of Adrien Rabiot. 

Unfortunately, the USMNT hasn't really seen this version of Pulisic. The great ancillary piece that feasts on rebounds, pressures defenders, and slaloms into open space. Pulisic was one of the best players in Europe this weekend, the result of being the player others create opportunities for as he buzzes across the attacking line, not the player expected to carry all the creativity.

Hopefully, Pochettino was watching. 

Chris Richards might be the best defender in the Prem.

Ok, that’s slightly hyperbolic… but only slightly!

Let’s start with the basics, Chris Richards big moments vs West Ham United: a clean tackle as the last man back, a goal line clearance that kept the match 1-1, and a carry into the final third on the game-winning goal.

His final stat line: 4 tackles, 1 interception, 1 recovery, and 12 duels, that’s 17 defensive contributions, 6 more than any other player in the match, along with winning 7 of 8 total duels. 

Crystal Palace left London Stadium with three points largely because of Richards’s performance, cementing just how important his status is in the CP starting XI and how important he will be next to Tim Ream in Pochettino’s backline next summer. This match doesn’t have much insight apart from that. Richards was solid, poised, and calm under pressure while making a few passes through the lines when he was asked to send balls forward… but it didn’t happen often.

Despite a lack of flash pinging balls forward, it’s notable how staunch Richards is when he engages an attacker. There is no panic, just good technique and the size to take up important space. Notably, this performance comes on the heels of his sub appearance vs Millwall in the Cup earlier in the week. Richards came off the bench and punched home a corner kick that landed at his feet as he fought through bodies in the mixer. He later converted his pen in the shootout that helped send Crystal Palace into the next round.

All this to say, what was Pochettino doing starting Tristan Blackmon over this man vs South Korea? And who slots next to him if Pochettino returns to a back three? 

Malik Tillman’s MOTM performance vs Gladbach. 

Welcome to Leverkusen Malik Tillman!

Tillman arrived in Leverkusen for a package “worth €40m” from PSV this summer, making the German-born American the second most expensive transfer in USMNT history behind Christian Pulisic. He came to Leverkusen after Xabi Alonso left the club for Real Madrid, but is surrounded by a group of players that went unbeaten just two seasons ago. 

The thought behind Tillman’s arrival was that he would become an important future piece, potentially the man to step into the vacuum left by Florian Wirtz’s transfer to Arsenal, and so far, he has shown promise through a bizarre start to the Bundesliga season. 

Tillman is already on his second manager of the season after Erik Ten Hag lasted two matches in charge. The Leverkusen FO quickly pulled the trigger after ETH lost to Hoffenheim and drew Werder Bremen 3-3. The Bremen draw was the final straw; ETH had already lost the locker room, and Leverkusen believed, rightfully so, that they could not waste time waiting for the Dutchman to find the right voice for this locker room. Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes said continuing to employ ETH would have been "an even bigger mistake" than hiring him in the first place.

Now, three matches into Kasper Hjulmand’s tenure, Tillman’s role has become clear. He won’t be expected to handle the crux of Leverkusen’s chance creation in the middle of the 3-4-2-1, that responsibility has fallen on Aleix Garcia. Instead, he’ll be the box-to-box midfielder, stepping into passing lanes, doing the dirty work defensively, while being a key target as the late-arriving runner. 

That is where he shone as the man of the match in Leverkusen’s 1-1 draw with BMG. Tillman intercepted three passes, made four recoveries, completed one tackle, won four of eight duels, and – most importantly – scored Leverkusen’s goal. 

Tillman has scored twice in 213 Bundesliga minutes this season, following a Gold Cup performance with five goal contributions. There are reasons to be optimistic about the young midfielder's outlook. He’ll certainly have the minutes to prove himself. 

Yazmeen Ryan has been the USWNT’s most consistent forward.

Yazmeen Ryan made some interesting history this weekend as she netted her 25th goal contribution over the past two NWSL seasons. 

Ryan has played a big role in Houston’s late-season playoff push, grabbing four goal contributions in her last five matches, with confidence dating back to her back-to-back goals vs Canada and Ireland last international window. 

First things first, Ryan deserves credit for putting the ball in the back of net. Houston has struggled to score goals this season, but Ryan’s output has been important as Delanie Sheehan and Avery Patterson continue to create as well. 

Only Manaka Matsukubo has more than Ryan’s 10 goal-creating options.

The problem comes when we think back to that earlier graphic. 

Ryan’s success over the past two seasons comes in the vacuum of Mal Swanson and Sophia Wilson’s pregnancies, along with Cat Macario’s return to fitness. 

It’s been a weird couple of seasons for the USWNT’s domestic core, but Ryan’s ability to press and turn something out of nothing should be really important for her future national team outlook. That isn’t a slight at Ryan’s output, but would you include Yazmeen Ryan over what Cat Macario, Michelle Cooper, and Alyssa Thompson provide outside of their final product?

Probably not, but maybe that changes if Ryan’s form carries Houston into the playoffs. 

Housekeeping:

Thanks for reading. I’m planning to make this a weekly piece where I look over some of my favorite American performances from any given week. Please subscribe for more of this, along with my usual NWSL and St. Louis soccer coverage, and share this piece if you enjoyed the read.