Went back to Ibrox for the first time since October and finally saw Olsen in the flesh. Trouble is, the talent’s obvious in flashes, but what worries me more is a lack of bite when it matters.
The opening of the game was telling. I don’t mean his passes or that he sometimes chooses the safe option — we’ve all seen that before — I mean his reaction when things got physical. In the first ten to fifteen minutes there were a couple of challenges he seemed to step away from. That’s not nitpicking; Scottish football is competitive and relentless. If you’re avoiding contact, opponents will make you pay.
Talent is there, no question. You can see the technique, the first touch, the moments where he links play and looks like the player we hoped for. But talent without temperament doesn’t cut it over a season. With six games to go, the patience runs thinner and the margin for error shrinks. That appetite, that willingness to scrap for 50/50s, has been missing too often for my liking.
It’s hard not to think about permanence and value. Right now it feels like an expensive gamble to make his loan move permanent. You’d expect a player who had a World Cup to push for his place, especially having missed out on the play-off squad and with Denmark now out. That should sharpen you up. Instead, getting hooked at half-time won’t do much for confidence and it becomes a bit of a spiral.
To be fair, I hope he finds a spark. Players can turn things round quickly — a big tackle, a committed run, an influential touch can change perception overnight. But until we see more physicality and the sort of edge this league needs, I’m not convinced he’s ready to be relied upon long-term. Fingers crossed he shows it in the closing run.
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