Eva Olid's Challenge at Manchester United: A Rocky Start
Eva Olid insists she can handle the heat. The criticism? Expected. The pressure? Part of the job.
What she cannot accept is the idea that Manchester United’s season has already been written after just two bruising games.
Under fire after brutal start
Olid walked into Old Trafford in the summer with a clear idea: a more attacking, possession-heavy Manchester United, a side that would dominate the ball and impose itself. Two matches into the Women’s Super League season, that vision has collided hard with reality.
A 2-1 defeat at London City Lionesses on the opening day set an uneasy tone. The 5-0 hammering by Chelsea at home last weekend turned unease into open concern.
Across those two games, United have managed only two shots on target and less than 40% possession in each. For a coach who wants her team to control games, the numbers cut deep – and the scrutiny has followed.
Asked if the criticism has been difficult to deal with, Olid was blunt.
"Yes and no. That is part of the job. I don't think it affects me," she said. "It is constructive criticism and that is normal. I understand that. The first two performances have not been good.
"We are the first to say we are not happy. The other part is the part I don't understand - people wanting to hurt [us], but they are not going to."
She knows the table makes grim reading. Bottom. Zero points. One goal scored. But she refuses to let the opening fortnight define her tenure.
"People that understand football know that the beginning and how you start does not define how you end the season. We know the direction and what we are doing will give us success in the long term."
A new style, old foundations
Olid, 41, arrived from Hearts with a clear philosophy. She wants United to build from the back, to keep the ball, to attack with structure and bravery. That evolution was never going to be painless, but the early teething problems have been stark.
She has repeatedly asked for patience. Not as a shield, but as a necessity for a group trying to unlearn and relearn at the same time.
"They cannot forget what they were good at before. At the same time, little by little, we need to implement the new style," she explained.
Under Marc Skinner, United built a reputation for defensive solidity, organisation and resilience – qualities that helped carry them into the Champions League quarter-finals. Olid does not want that identity erased. She wants it layered.
"But it's impossible to be doing everything," she admitted. "The players have been so focused and thinking a lot – overthinking maybe – trying to do everything and in the end, they don't do anything because they are not expressing themselves like I know they can."
Her biggest concern is not the noise outside. It is what the players feel inside.
"So yeah, I'm good. The only thing that is important for me is the players. I'm worried always that they need to feel good and strong, nothing else."
Her message to the squad has been simple and repeated.
"My main message [to the players] has been about them being themselves. They are not showing in the first two matches who they are and what they can do."
Toughest test yet: Arsenal away
If United were hoping for a gentle reset, the fixture list has shown no mercy.
Next up is Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening (17:30 BST). The Gunners are unbeaten in 19 WSL matches. United have not won there since November 2022.
This is not the stage you choose when you are trying to rebuild confidence. It is the one you are given.
"Yeah, football is like life. You have good moments and difficult moments. I think all the teams in the season have a difficult moment. Ours is the start," Olid said.
"We are learning as a team to grow because the difficult moments make you grow. Once we've passed this difficult moment and start [to build] momentum, I think we will be so much better."
On the opposite bench, Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers has sympathy for the scale of the task Olid has taken on.
"Eva has had so little time," Slegers said. "As a coach it's a decision you make – are you going to change things straight away or are you going to have another approach where, over time, you look to try to change things progressively?
"That's probably the balance for her. I don't know what her philosophy is but I imagine it's a challenge. I understand the disappointment from a fan perspective - but there has been so little time."
Early storm, long season
Olid knows the numbers, hears the doubts, feels the urgency. She also believes the turbulence at the start can harden a team for what comes later.
United’s task now is brutally clear: rediscover the defensive edge of the Skinner era, trust the attacking ideas of their new coach and, above all, stop playing with fear.
The Emirates is an unforgiving place to search for calm. But if this really is just the start of United’s “difficult moment”, how they respond in North London will say plenty about how – and where – this season ends.
