Bayern Munich phenom Michael Olise is a bit of an enigmatic figure: a highly talented player yet (mostly) stoic off the pitch, and it sort of trickles down to when he plays football. Bayern coach Vincent Kompany has called Olise cerebral (or being more of a thinker than a feeler) and said that everything seems to slow down for him on the pitch. So, what does that mean?
“Maybe my play style gives the impression that things slow down. But when I am on the pitch, I do not know if it is muscle memory.
I play mostly through instinct,” Olise said (as captured by X account @iMiaSanMia). Kompany does have a point: Olise isn’t as explosively fast as a fully fit Alphonso Davies or a Luis Díaz. However, Olise is someone who analyzes his options and makes sure he chooses and executes the right option, and that more than makes up for him looking slow compared to other players.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise when I tell you that pace isn’t everything in football, and that’s where the 24-year-old Frenchman deviates. He has enough pace, but what sets him apart is that he is a literal gamechanger, even during off days (Borussia Dortmund, Mainz, and Wolfsburg away, and at home to Heidenheim). He is both a creator and a finisher and a cracking good one at that and sometimes that’s all one could ever ask for from a top player.
