Eva Olid Embraces Criticism Amid Manchester United's Tough Start

Eva Olid insists she will not be shaken by the noise around Manchester United’s bruising start to the Women’s Super League season, calling the criticism “normal” and “constructive” as she tries to rip up and rewrite the team’s style.

The Spaniard, who arrived from Hearts in the summer to replace Marc Skinner, has opened her United tenure with back-to-back league defeats. A 2-1 loss away to London City Lionesses on the opening weekend was followed by a chastening 5-0 hammering at home to Chelsea.

Two games. Two defeats. One goal scored. Bottom of the table.

And for a coach preaching possession and attacking control, the numbers cut deepest. United have managed just two shots on target across those matches and seen less than 40% of the ball in both.

Olid knows exactly what that looks like from the outside.

“Is the criticism difficult? 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.

“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.

“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.”

A brutal start – and Arsenal next

If the schedule was meant to offer a soft landing, it has done the opposite. United’s response to that Chelsea thrashing comes at Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening, against an Arsenal side unbeaten in 19 WSL games.

United have not won there since November 2022. Right now, they look a long way from that level.

“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.

“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.”

That identity crisis cuts to the heart of Olid’s challenge. United under Skinner were built on structure and defensive solidity, a platform that carried them to the Champions League quarter-finals. Olid wants to keep that steel, but overlay it with a more expansive, possession-heavy game.

Right now, they seem stuck in between.

Caught between old habits and new ideas

Olid has repeatedly asked for patience as her ideas bed in, but she also knows what United were good at before – and that it cannot simply be discarded.

“They cannot forget what they were good at before. At the same time, little by little, we need to implement the new style,” she said.

Then came the revealing line.

“But it’s impossible to be doing everything. 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.”

It is the classic tension of a new regime: hold on to the strengths of the past, inject something fresh, and somehow avoid short-circuiting the players in the process. For now, the overthinking shows in the numbers and in the table.

Respect from the other dugout

Across the technical area on Saturday, Arsenal manager Renee Slegers will be plotting how to extend her side’s unbeaten league run – but she has sympathy for the situation Olid has walked into.

“Olid has had so little time,” Slegers said, acknowledging the scale of the task at United.

“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.”

Time, though, is not something managers at big clubs are often granted in abundance. United travel to north London with no points, one goal, and questions swirling around a project still in its infancy.

Olid is adamant that the start will not define the finish. Arsenal away will show how much her players believe her.