ROY Hodgson has again defended his decision to bring on Michael Olise at half-time in Crystal Palace’s 4-1 defeat to Brighton last weekend – suggesting a less quiet player would have told him he wasn’t ready to play.
The Eagles were 3-0 down when Olise was sent on and he lasted just eleven minutes before limping off with a hamstring injury that will keep him out for two months.
Olise suffered a serious hamstring injury last summer and only made his first appearance of the season in November. Olise picked up another hamstring injury in late December and missed a month.
Hodgson is also without the injured Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi. Hodgson said after the defeat to Brighton that the medical team had given the okay for Olise to be involved in the match-day squad.
“It’s devastating for him, for the club, for everybody, really,” Hodgson said ahead of Monday’s Premier League clash against Chelsea at Selhurst Park. ”It’s not easy when you’ve got a player like Olise on the bench to turn around and say, ‘just sit there’.
“Michael is a quiet guy and that’s another part of this situation.
“Another player might have come up and said, ‘Look, I don’t think it’s worth it. I need a bit more time.’
“But that’s not fair on him, he’s just going along with what the club thinks.”
Palace are five points above the relegation zone before the weekend’s action. Hodgson insisted reports linking Palace with a managerial change don’t bother him.
Hodgson said: ”I think, speculation, there’s always going to be people who are having a bad run with their clubs, and at that time there is going to be speculation about the future of those people, ie the managers, so why should I be any different to that?
“It’s not in my control, that, it doesn’t affect my daily work. When I come in here, it doesn’t stop me working with the players as I think we should work with the players, it doesn’t stop me selecting the team, doesn’t stop me selecting the tactics and trying to get the team in the best possible shape to play the game.
“This is from the outside and one has no option but to let those things pass and to accept them as a fact of football life.”
