Vieira: How Olise overcame frustrating start to excel at Palace

First-team

10 Mar 2022

Patrick Vieira says Michael Olise’s hard work saw him overcome an early injury trouble at Crystal Palace to become a crucial team player, but says there is still plenty of room for him to improve.

“He managed to get back on the field, and his work ethic was unbelievable. His confidence: he is getting to perform at this level and he has managed to earn the trust of his teammates.

“He is playing well, he is enjoying his football and he is a really important player for the team.”

Having played primarily on the right this season, Olise has also filled in recently in the No.10 position. Vieira says this versatility can help him improve, but that further hard work is required.

“When he was at Reading and [I was] talking to the manager at the time, he really believed that Michael had that quality to play in the Premier League,” Vieira said in his pre-Manchester City press conference. “It was just about creating this kind of place where he could keep improving himself.

“We knew how good he was. He arrived and he was injured when he arrived. He had a difficult first couple of months because of the injury – he couldn’t train and he couldn’t play. He was really frustrated.

“He is good on the right-hand side because that is where he feels really comfortable,” the manager explained. “He is capable of coming inside or using his right foot on the line. He can combine with players around him.

“He is technical, he is intelligent. It allows him to play inside. He can do a lot of things. Now he has to keep demanding of himself to keep performing in training, and keep performing in games.”

As well as his obvious talent on the ball, Vieira says he is working hard on Olise’s game out of possession.

“There are still a lot of parts of the games that he needs to learn,” Vieira said. “He needs to do better out of possession – he can improve that part of the game if he wants to be a complete player.

“We can give him support, but now it’s about how high he wants to go.

“Michael is a Palace player and we love him. He is happy with us and enjoying his football. Hopefully he will be with us for a long time.”

First-team
Michael Olise