McBride Praises Lampard for Being Patient With Pulisic

Many things were expected from Pulisic after he completed a move to Chelsea from Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund during the summer of 2019.

The USA superstar was dropped to the bench by Lampard after he flattered to deceive in his opening matches at Stamford Bridge, however, Pulisic sprang to life with some stellar performances which included a Premier League hat-trick against Burnley.

Pulisic’s purple patch was ended following an untimely injury that has kept him out since the beginning of the year.

McBride has applauded Lampard for the careful approach he took in integrating his compatriot into the Chelsea team.

“I think that’s the good thing about having a manager who has played the game at such a high level, because Frank was very patient with Christian at the beginning,” the 47-year-old told Chelsea’s official US podcast.

“Christian’s moved over to a new country, joined a new team and had to establish himself in a new league.”

“There could have been the pressure there on him to deliver straight away but Frank understood that he needed to have time to adapt.”

“So, from a US national team perspective, that was really nice to see. We don’t know what was happening behind the scenes at the club and how hands on that would have been, but it allowed time for Christian to settle in, adapt and integrate into the team.”

“He was then able to understand how both Chelsea and Frank wanted him to play.”

“Then when the time was right, Frank really let Christian loose and you could see before the injury he was really sharp, he was quick on his heels and he was hurting opposition defenders.”

During his playing days, McBride played in the Premier League with the likes of Everton and Fulham.