Eva Olid's Manchester United Faces Tough Start

Eva Olid insists she can handle the heat. Two games into her Manchester United tenure, two defeats on the board, and a 5-0 hammering by Chelsea still ringing in the ears, she calls the reaction “normal”.

This is the job. And she is not flinching.

Under fire after brutal start

Olid arrived in the summer to replace Marc Skinner, charged with reshaping United into a front-foot, possession-heavy side. The early evidence has been harsh.

A 2-1 opening-day loss at London City Lionesses was damaging enough. The home collapse against Chelsea last weekend was something else entirely – a statement from the champions, and a brutal introduction for the new manager.

Across those two matches, United have mustered just two shots on target and seen less than 40% of the ball in both games. For a coach preaching attacking football and control, the numbers cut deep and the criticism has followed.

Asked if the scrutiny has affected her, 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.”

Her focus, she insists, is elsewhere.

“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.”

Long-term vision in a short-term league

Olid, 41, arrived from Hearts with a clear idea: United should dominate the ball, attack with purpose and evolve from the more pragmatic base built under Skinner. The early turbulence has not shaken her belief.

“People that understand football know that the beginning and how you start does not define how you end the season,” she said. “We know the direction and what we are doing will give us success in the long term.”

Right now, the table tells a brutal story. United sit bottom, no points, one goal scored. It is not a picture anyone at the club expected to see.

Olid frames it as part of the journey.

“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,” she 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.”

Her message to the squad has been simple, and pointed.

“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.”

Old foundations, new ideas

For all the talk of change, Olid knows she cannot rip up everything that came before. Under Skinner, United built a solid defensive base and reached the Champions League quarter-finals. That resilience has to remain.

“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.

The problem, in her eyes, is that the players are trying to carry too much, too quickly.

“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 a familiar tension for any coach attempting a stylistic overhaul: how fast to push, how much to keep, and how to stop a team freezing under the weight of new instructions.

Arsenal away – the steepest test yet

If United were hoping for a gentle reset, the fixture list has other ideas. Next up is Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening (17:30 BST).

The Gunners are unbeaten in 19 WSL games. United have not won there since November 2022. It is a daunting assignment for a side already under pressure and still searching for rhythm.

Arsenal boss Renee Slegers recognises the scale of the task facing her opposite number.

Olid, she says, has “had so little time” to stamp her identity on the team and is wrestling with the key decision every new manager faces.

“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?” Slegers said.

“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 rarely a luxury in elite football. United travel to north London bottom of the table, under scrutiny, and with a manager determined to stick to her principles.

The question now is not whether Eva Olid can take the criticism. It is how quickly her Manchester United can turn that noise into the kind of performances that silence it.