Dempsey was "crafty" if you will. Wouldnt out-muscle you, but had a pretty good touch. Pulisic is deft. He can set you up with a simple shoulder move and then spin right around you, all the while, the ball hasnt gone further than a foot from his feet. Messi was the master of this. Its the same reason Pulisic endures multiple "chop down" tackles a game. Defenders want him to get that ball off his feet, and part of that is hard fouls. He got clobbered early in leg 1 by RM players - like 4-5 really hard tackles in the first 20 min or so. When you see that, you know the level of respect is there.
the real key imo will be the other 10 meshing with CP. Does Pulisic have to drop his game down ever so slightly, and if he does, can he pull it off while still being the most dominant on the field ? I really think what has to happen for USMNT to be wildly successful is that the link up play between mid and fwd has to be on point. Pulisic to feel as tho he doesnt have to carry 60% of the load and over-play and the others to get to his level for 90 min or so to enjoy the fruits of Pulisics ability.
I keep gushing over Pulisic, but its because im so very excited and proud to say "thats a US player!" on an international level we really havent seen. Lots of pride for an old soccer player myself.
gone are the days of knocking the ball 20 yards upfield and using brute speed to get on to....