- Jul 7, 2003
- 47,222
Olise now out for a minimum of two more months with his injury. Which is a shame 
The wailing from Palace fans at this has been quite spectacular. We were literally talking at half time in the game about whether it would be worth Hodgson bringing him on for a game that could easily have been written off at that point. He brings him on the surprise of most of us, and then we all know how it ended. And Palace fans are using it as yet another stick to beat Hodgson with.
My point is this. Michael Olise is a professional athlete. He suffered a hamstring tear so severe back in May that he required surgery and didn't play again for six months. He's been managed carefully since then, and in fact came off in their previous game with- oh!- a tight hamstring.
The Palace medical staff have then assessed him based, at least partially, you'd think, on what Olise is telling them he's feeling. If he tells them it's still sore, or tight, then they tell Hodgson he's not fit. But presumably he's said to them that he feels fine. Perhaps he's desperate to play. Perhaps he genuinely did feel fine and this is just a freak incident caused by the fact his hamstrings are made of unicorn hair and angel tears.
Or maybe he, as a professional footballer with a history of hamstring injuries, should have said to the medical team and to Roy Hodgson when asked if he felt fit enough to play, "sorry gaffer, I'm just not confident in it right now". Take some responsibility, you know? We were all surprised Roy risked him (at least we were where I sit) but there must be SOME onus on the player here, surely? It's not like Hodgson is thinking "f*** it, let's see if we can put our best player out until April now", is it?
The wailing from Palace fans at this has been quite spectacular. We were literally talking at half time in the game about whether it would be worth Hodgson bringing him on for a game that could easily have been written off at that point. He brings him on the surprise of most of us, and then we all know how it ended. And Palace fans are using it as yet another stick to beat Hodgson with.
My point is this. Michael Olise is a professional athlete. He suffered a hamstring tear so severe back in May that he required surgery and didn't play again for six months. He's been managed carefully since then, and in fact came off in their previous game with- oh!- a tight hamstring.
The Palace medical staff have then assessed him based, at least partially, you'd think, on what Olise is telling them he's feeling. If he tells them it's still sore, or tight, then they tell Hodgson he's not fit. But presumably he's said to them that he feels fine. Perhaps he's desperate to play. Perhaps he genuinely did feel fine and this is just a freak incident caused by the fact his hamstrings are made of unicorn hair and angel tears.
Or maybe he, as a professional footballer with a history of hamstring injuries, should have said to the medical team and to Roy Hodgson when asked if he felt fit enough to play, "sorry gaffer, I'm just not confident in it right now". Take some responsibility, you know? We were all surprised Roy risked him (at least we were where I sit) but there must be SOME onus on the player here, surely? It's not like Hodgson is thinking "f*** it, let's see if we can put our best player out until April now", is it?
