The player returning from injury brings a caution the crowd cannot see from the stands.

Coming back is not the same as being back. The body has learned something it will not unlearn quickly, and a fraction of hesitation now sits in a movement that used to be automatic, which nobody in the stands can detect and everyone in the stands is judging. What looks like lost form is often a person negotiating with a memory of pain.

If you are recovering from something, let the caution be part of the plan rather than a fault to override. Tell whoever needs to know what you are not ready for. And if you are watching someone return, be slower than usual to conclude anything.