France’s Michael Olise ‘troubled’ by performance against Israel

There is a lot of expectation on Michael Olise’s (22) shoulders. The playmaker, after impressing for Les Bleus in the Olympics, was brought into the senior side in September following his move from Crystal Palace to Bayern Munich.

His form since making the move to the Bundesliga, scoring six goals and registering three assists in nine games in all competitions only increased that weight of expectation. However, he has yet to replicate that form for France. He earned his third cap for Les Bleus in Thursday night’s 4-1 UEFA Nations League victory over Israel. Despite that win, the former Crystal Palace man struggled.

Post-match, Didier Deschamps admitted that the playmaker “could do better”. The France manager added, “He didn’t have his best match. He knows it too as well, potentially. He can do a lot of things but there were lots of technical errors.” The Bayern Munich forward lost the ball on 22 occasions on the night and looked disconnected from his teammates, struggling to pick them out and often running down cul-de-sacs.

L’Équipe have now revealed that speaking to people within Les Bleus’ camp, Olise stated that he was “troubled by the errors that he made in Budapest.” It is not clear whether he will get the chance to atone for those errors against Belgium on Monday. It is expected that Mattéo Guendouzi will start over Olise in the Nations League encounter.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle