As well as he played, Christian Pulisic could not lift Chelsea in the second half. 

LIVERPOOL – Did Chelsea manager Frank Lampard make a mistake in not starting the hot Christian Pulisic in his team’s 5-3 loss to Liverpool on Wednesday?

Well, since the U.S. international midfielder is not a defensive specialist, he probably would not have made much of an impact trying to stop the English Premier League champions. But his presence could have helped the Blues’ attack early on.

Pulisic came off the bench in the second half to score one goal and assist on another at Anfield.

Chelsea still can reach next season’s UEFA Champions League as long as it earns at least a point against Wolverhampton in its season finale Sunday.

ESPN graded Pulisic a 9 out of 10.” Replaced [Mason] Mount in the 59th minute and made an instant impact, setting up Abraham. He then went and scored a well-taken goal,” Danny Lewis of ESPN wrote in his match report.

Lampard did not talk about Pulisic of any other Chelsea player.

“I would not talk about individuals in a game where we have conceded those goals,” he said. “Some were real quality Liverpool finishes, particularly the free-kick. There were some collective and individual errors for the goals. What we did do was contribute to a really good game.”

With Chelsea trailing the Reds 4-1 in the second half, Pulisic was one of three substitutes Lampard brought on and several minutes later he worked his way through the defense before squaring the ball to second-half sub Tammy Abraham, who scored from five yards.

Pulisic brought Chelsea within 4-3 in the 72nd minute, but it wasn’t enough as the hosts tallied to give themselves some breathing room.

“At 4-3 it felt like we may get back in the game. I felt it throughout,” Lampard said. “We know where we are at. We know if we make mistakes like that against a team of the quality of Liverpool then this is what can happen but there were a lot of good things in the game so I certainly don’t want to get into individual conversations about players because we have two big domestic games to play and it is important we go in together, as players, fans, everybody trying to finish the season how we want.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.