Eva Olid's Vision for Manchester United: Attack with Bravery

Eva Olid wants Manchester United to attack – and to do it without fear.

The new manager steps into the Women's Super League for the first time on Friday night, taking United to London City Lionesses in the season opener, and she has delivered a blunt message to her squad: be brave, be bold, and go for teams.

The Spaniard arrives from Hearts, where she built her reputation by punching above the club’s weight, and replaces Marc Skinner after his departure in the summer. The handover has come at a time of unease. A relatively quiet transfer window, short of the reinforcements many supporters had demanded, has fuelled doubts over whether United can realistically fight for a top-three finish.

Olid has heard the noise. She is not running from it.

"It's normal, no? It's normal to have people doubting," she said, pointing out that alongside the scepticism, she has felt strong backing as well. Those who watched her work in Scotland, she argued, know what she can build.

"People that followed me in the last years with Hearts know I made something impossible possible, so I believe in what we are going to do. It's not something you get in weeks but I believe with a little time you get impossible things."

That belief underpins everything she is trying to change at United. Pre-season has not sparkled, and she knows it. The performances have not yet matched the vision. But she has been uncompromising in her demands.

"My ambition is attacking football. I focus the gameplans on how we can hurt the teams. All teams have weaknesses we can exploit," Olid said.

She wants United to step onto the pitch with a front-foot mentality, to dictate rather than react. The first league game, she accepts, will be an early test of how quickly her ideas have landed.

"This team will play the first match in the league and I want it to be as close [as possible] to what I want. The style of play is different to what we had last year."

That shift is significant. A new manager, a new structure, and only a short window to install it. Olid has been pragmatic, stripping back some of her principles to ensure United can still compete while the deeper work continues.

"You can imagine it's not an easy task. What I did was put aside the principles of play that I thought was easier to change for the first match so we can compete."

The club, she insists, knew exactly what they were signing up for. They wanted a side that plays on the edge, that excites and takes risks.

"The club wanted to play attractive football and be brave. We know that can have risks but the club support me in that. They signed me for that."

Now comes the hard part. Under the Friday night lights in London, with doubts swirling outside and a new philosophy taking shape inside, we find out how ready this United team is to live with that bravery.