by Craig Laycock
Original article:
Michael Olise, then. Quite a player.
Of course, we all know what he’s capable of from his time at Bayern Munich, but the Hayes & Yeading United youth product is stepping things up to another level as the World Cup approaches - making England fans like myself wonder why we couldn’t convince him to declare for us instead.
I’ve seen Olise play before - for Reading. In 2020, my team Preston North End played The Royals at the Madejski Stadium. He played 71 minutes before being substituted as Preston won 3-0.
But Olise went on to have a good season in the end, earning a move to Crystal Palace that paved the way to even greater things - including this season’s incredible performance at Bayern Munich, which saw him take home the Bundesliga Player of the Season - 32 Bundesliga appearances, 15 goals and 20 assists in a single season. Across all competitions he made 51 total goal contributions.
And his Man of the Match performance in France’s 3-1 dismantling of Northern Ireland was nothing short of a statement: “I’ve arrived on the international stage, and I’m not pissing about.”
While Kylian Mbappe struggled to find the back of the net, Olise bagged a hat-trick. His first, a deft poacher’s effort to spring on a loose ball in the box. The second, a vicious left-footed strike from 14-yards that left the keeper with no chance.
The third was the best of the bunch. Cutting inside from the edge of the box, he unleashed a left-footed curler from about 20 yards that was beautifully placed beyond the hapless outstretching Northern Ireland keeper.
In all, he took 5 shots, 4 were on target and 3 resulted in goals. Clinical.
Olise can play in a couple of positions. Typically you’ll find him in right-winger positions, playing inverted (cutting in on his left foot and shooting as he did for France’s third). But he can also drift into central areas, or play as a number 10, and will frequently find himself in menacing positions on the edge of, just inside of or even sometimes deep inside the opposition box.
His crossing is on another level, too. His ability to whip the ball causes havoc for opposition defences, and his deft touch means he can pick out a perfectly weighted through ball. He’s an extremely difficult prospect to defend against, and on the evidence of the game against Northern Ireland, World Cup defences will be collectively bricking it at the prospect of stopping him.
So how do you stop him? Deschamps gives Olise tactical freedom to drift inside, making the most of his creativity and deft touch. He even shifted Dembélé into a more central position to give Olise more space to operate.
Defences will have a big problem of who to mark, and when. Deny Olise space and Mbappe will find some, and vice versa. So together, they’ll stretch defences similarly to how Saka, Gordon and Kane will operate for England.
The best way to stop him would be to try to force him onto his right foot and hound him relentlessly, but this isn’t easy as he’s relatively press-resistant and extremely composed
If a fullback tries to stay close to Olise, he’ll find a ball to Mbappe. So defences have to work in a tightly coordinated way to both press him and disrupt all of the passing lanes simultaneously. No easy task. He can also break quickly with devastating short-step acceleration, so you can’t let him roll you.
One thing’s for sure, plenty of defences at this World Cup won’t manage to stop him if this game was anything to go by, and France (and neutral) fans will enjoy the electric atmosphere his creative style of football will bring to the tournament.
8 min read
Olise shapes up to take on the world
I knew I'd get a Preston mention in here somewhere.
8 min read
Michael Olise, then. Quite a player.
Of course, we all know what he’s capable of from his time at Bayern Munich, but the Hayes & Yeading United youth product is stepping things up to another level as the World Cup approaches - making England fans like myself wonder why we couldn’t convince him to declare for us instead.
I’ve seen Olise play before - for Reading. In 2020, my team Preston North End played The Royals at the Madejski Stadium. He played 71 minutes before being substituted as Preston won 3-0.
But Olise went on to have a good season in the end, earning a move to Crystal Palace that paved the way to even greater things - including this season’s incredible performance at Bayern Munich, which saw him take home the Bundesliga Player of the Season - 32 Bundesliga appearances, 15 goals and 20 assists in a single season. Across all competitions he made 51 total goal contributions.
And his Man of the Match performance in France’s 3-1 dismantling of Northern Ireland was nothing short of a statement: “I’ve arrived on the international stage, and I’m not pissing about.”
While Kylian Mbappe struggled to find the back of the net, Olise bagged a hat-trick. His first, a deft poacher’s effort to spring on a loose ball in the box. The second, a vicious left-footed strike from 14-yards that left the keeper with no chance.
The third was the best of the bunch. Cutting inside from the edge of the box, he unleashed a left-footed curler from about 20 yards that was beautifully placed beyond the hapless outstretching Northern Ireland keeper.
In all, he took 5 shots, 4 were on target and 3 resulted in goals. Clinical.
Olise can play in a couple of positions. Typically you’ll find him in right-winger positions, playing inverted (cutting in on his left foot and shooting as he did for France’s third). But he can also drift into central areas, or play as a number 10, and will frequently find himself in menacing positions on the edge of, just inside of or even sometimes deep inside the opposition box.
His crossing is on another level, too. His ability to whip the ball causes havoc for opposition defences, and his deft touch means he can pick out a perfectly weighted through ball. He’s an extremely difficult prospect to defend against, and on the evidence of the game against Northern Ireland, World Cup defences will be collectively bricking it at the prospect of stopping him.
So how do you stop him? Deschamps gives Olise tactical freedom to drift inside, making the most of his creativity and deft touch. He even shifted Dembélé into a more central position to give Olise more space to operate.
Defences will have a big problem of who to mark, and when. Deny Olise space and Mbappe will find some, and vice versa. So together, they’ll stretch defences similarly to how Saka, Gordon and Kane will operate for England.
The best way to stop him would be to try to force him onto his right foot and hound him relentlessly, but this isn’t easy as he’s relatively press-resistant and extremely composed
If a fullback tries to stay close to Olise, he’ll find a ball to Mbappe. So defences have to work in a tightly coordinated way to both press him and disrupt all of the passing lanes simultaneously. No easy task. He can also break quickly with devastating short-step acceleration, so you can’t let him roll you.
One thing’s for sure, plenty of defences at this World Cup won’t manage to stop him if this game was anything to go by, and France (and neutral) fans will enjoy the electric atmosphere his creative style of football will bring to the tournament.
Olise shapes up to take on the world
I knew I'd get a Preston mention in here somewhere.
Original article:
Last updated:
Michael Olise, then. Quite a player.
Of course, we all know what he’s capable of from his time at Bayern Munich, but the Hayes & Yeading United youth product is stepping things up to another level as the World Cup approaches - making England fans like myself wonder why we couldn’t convince him to declare for us instead.
I’ve seen Olise play before - for Reading. In 2020, my team Preston North End played The Royals at the Madejski Stadium. He played 71 minutes before being substituted as Preston won 3-0.
But Olise went on to have a good season in the end, earning a move to Crystal Palace that paved the way to even greater things - including this season’s incredible performance at Bayern Munich, which saw him take home the Bundesliga Player of the Season - 32 Bundesliga appearances, 15 goals and 20 assists in a single season. Across all competitions he made 51 total goal contributions.
And his Man of the Match performance in France’s 3-1 dismantling of Northern Ireland was nothing short of a statement: “I’ve arrived on the international stage, and I’m not pissing about.”
While Kylian Mbappe struggled to find the back of the net, Olise bagged a hat-trick. His first, a deft poacher’s effort to spring on a loose ball in the box. The second, a vicious left-footed strike from 14-yards that left the keeper with no chance.
The third was the best of the bunch. Cutting inside from the edge of the box, he unleashed a left-footed curler from about 20 yards that was beautifully placed beyond the hapless outstretching Northern Ireland keeper.
In all, he took 5 shots, 4 were on target and 3 resulted in goals. Clinical.
Olise can play in a couple of positions. Typically you’ll find him in right-winger positions, playing inverted (cutting in on his left foot and shooting as he did for France’s third). But he can also drift into central areas, or play as a number 10, and will frequently find himself in menacing positions on the edge of, just inside of or even sometimes deep inside the opposition box.
His crossing is on another level, too. His ability to whip the ball causes havoc for opposition defences, and his deft touch means he can pick out a perfectly weighted through ball. He’s an extremely difficult prospect to defend against, and on the evidence of the game against Northern Ireland, World Cup defences will be collectively bricking it at the prospect of stopping him.
So how do you stop him? Deschamps gives Olise tactical freedom to drift inside, making the most of his creativity and deft touch. He even shifted Dembélé into a more central position to give Olise more space to operate.
Defences will have a big problem of who to mark, and when. Deny Olise space and Mbappe will find some, and vice versa. So together, they’ll stretch defences similarly to how Saka, Gordon and Kane will operate for England.
The best way to stop him would be to try to force him onto his right foot and hound him relentlessly, but this isn’t easy as he’s relatively press-resistant and extremely composed
If a fullback tries to stay close to Olise, he’ll find a ball to Mbappe. So defences have to work in a tightly coordinated way to both press him and disrupt all of the passing lanes simultaneously. No easy task. He can also break quickly with devastating short-step acceleration, so you can’t let him roll you.
One thing’s for sure, plenty of defences at this World Cup won’t manage to stop him if this game was anything to go by, and France (and neutral) fans will enjoy the electric atmosphere his creative style of football will bring to the tournament.
8 min read
Olise shapes up to take on the world
I knew I'd get a Preston mention in here somewhere.
Michael Olise, then. Quite a player.
Of course, we all know what he’s capable of from his time at Bayern Munich, but the Hayes & Yeading United youth product is stepping things up to another level as the World Cup approaches - making England fans like myself wonder why we couldn’t convince him to declare for us instead.
I’ve seen Olise play before - for Reading. In 2020, my team Preston North End played The Royals at the Madejski Stadium. He played 71 minutes before being substituted as Preston won 3-0.
But Olise went on to have a good season in the end, earning a move to Crystal Palace that paved the way to even greater things - including this season’s incredible performance at Bayern Munich, which saw him take home the Bundesliga Player of the Season - 32 Bundesliga appearances, 15 goals and 20 assists in a single season. Across all competitions he made 51 total goal contributions.
And his Man of the Match performance in France’s 3-1 dismantling of Northern Ireland was nothing short of a statement: “I’ve arrived on the international stage, and I’m not pissing about.”
While Kylian Mbappe struggled to find the back of the net, Olise bagged a hat-trick. His first, a deft poacher’s effort to spring on a loose ball in the box. The second, a vicious left-footed strike from 14-yards that left the keeper with no chance.
The third was the best of the bunch. Cutting inside from the edge of the box, he unleashed a left-footed curler from about 20 yards that was beautifully placed beyond the hapless outstretching Northern Ireland keeper.
In all, he took 5 shots, 4 were on target and 3 resulted in goals. Clinical.
Olise can play in a couple of positions. Typically you’ll find him in right-winger positions, playing inverted (cutting in on his left foot and shooting as he did for France’s third). But he can also drift into central areas, or play as a number 10, and will frequently find himself in menacing positions on the edge of, just inside of or even sometimes deep inside the opposition box.
His crossing is on another level, too. His ability to whip the ball causes havoc for opposition defences, and his deft touch means he can pick out a perfectly weighted through ball. He’s an extremely difficult prospect to defend against, and on the evidence of the game against Northern Ireland, World Cup defences will be collectively bricking it at the prospect of stopping him.
So how do you stop him? Deschamps gives Olise tactical freedom to drift inside, making the most of his creativity and deft touch. He even shifted Dembélé into a more central position to give Olise more space to operate.
Defences will have a big problem of who to mark, and when. Deny Olise space and Mbappe will find some, and vice versa. So together, they’ll stretch defences similarly to how Saka, Gordon and Kane will operate for England.
The best way to stop him would be to try to force him onto his right foot and hound him relentlessly, but this isn’t easy as he’s relatively press-resistant and extremely composed
If a fullback tries to stay close to Olise, he’ll find a ball to Mbappe. So defences have to work in a tightly coordinated way to both press him and disrupt all of the passing lanes simultaneously. No easy task. He can also break quickly with devastating short-step acceleration, so you can’t let him roll you.
One thing’s for sure, plenty of defences at this World Cup won’t manage to stop him if this game was anything to go by, and France (and neutral) fans will enjoy the electric atmosphere his creative style of football will bring to the tournament.
8 min read