Americans Abroad: It's time for Christian Pulisic to snap his dry spell, and can Folarin Balogun stay on fire?

What do we make of Christian Pulisic at this point? What's going wrong here? Is it possible that he is a footballer doing all the right things, and the bounce of the ball isn't just going for him? A deflection off his knee, or a friendly rebound into the goal, and this is all magically fixed? Is it really just a spherical object crossing a white line that can save him?

Perhaps football is more complex than this. Sure, there are vibes, mental battles, and luck. But there are also patterns, absolutes, and prior evidence that can be pointed to. Want a stark reality? Pulisic has always done this. He has always run hot and cold. He has always maybe tried a little too hard, or played through one too many knocks. He is a truly excellent footballer whose great fatal flaw is the fact that he can't show it for 40-plus games.

This is one of those cold spells. And it's not as if he's doing anything wrong. There are some gripes to be made here. Max Allegri's football is terribly defensive. Pulisic should be used as a striker. The guys around him aren't performing, either. Milan has been shut out in three of their last four games. That's not good enough.

Sunday, they have Hellas Verona, away. Surely, this is one for the vibes to pick back up. They haven't kept a clean sheet in their last eight. They have lost their last four. Avoiding relegation would be a true footballing miracle. The stage is set for Pulisic to break out of his cold spell.

There was some discourse on social media recently that Weston McKennie is having the best season of any American midfielder ever. Ponder recent history, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better one - especially if you consider Pulisic an out-and-out attacking player. That's probably a good thing. McKennie is having a good season by most standards, and an excellent one by American ones.

That's something worth celebrating, not least because the U.S. could really do with an uptick in quality ahead of the World Cup. The midfield looks a little thin. Tyler Adams is not a nailed-on starter for Bournemouth at the moment. No one else has quite grasped a role with a European side. Johnny Cardoso is an interesting footballer, but is he the answer? Good thing we have a month or so to find out.

As for McKennie, Juve are in a solid run of form. They have won four of their last five, and conceded just one goal during that stretch. McKennie is doing his part. He scored last time out against Genoa and is back in the fold after missing a game due to yellow card accumulation. Bologna have fallen out of the European hunt, and a win for Juve would go a long way to cementing a return to the Champions League.

Finally, the Folarin Balogun we all knew was there. The interesting thing about Balogun is that he has always been very effective when he has space to run into. He's not really a back-to-goal kind of No.9. But let him stretch his legs, and the USMNT striker can be a top-tier marksman. He has proved as such of late, with seven goals in his last seven Ligue 1 games - including an audacious chip against Marseille on April 5.

Last week was miserable for Monaco, though. They were thumped by Paris FC. And even if Balogun bagged, they will need to recapture their early April form to make it to Europe. Right now, they are a point back of a UEFA Conference League spot. But the goals surely have to be higher for a side that was in the Champions League this campaign. That would require a three point swing. And it starts with a battle against relegation-scrappers Auxerre this weekend. That won't be an easy game. But at least their main man is in form.

Now that the dust has more than settled, we can probably admit that it's all a bit unfair on Gio Reyna. The manager who brought him in was swiftly sacked, and a new one clearly hasn't been sold. Reyna needed to play football, and simply hasn't seen the field enough after making what seemed to be a decent switch to Borussia Monchengladbach.

It's a weird scenario, too. Gladbach certainly faced a bit of a down season, but few would have had them fighting relegation with five games to go. Now, they're in a true scrap to avoid the drop, and have won just one of their last five. Forget playing beautiful football, it's time to bunker in and get some results. And where does that leave Reyna? Well, he's a bit of a maverick in a team that simply does not need one. The good news? This weekend's opponents, Mainz, aren't playing for much. They almost certainly won't get relegated. And they aren't making it to Europe. Perhaps this could be a more open game, and a change for Reyna to stretch his legs.