“You have to be faithful”: Man United Women boss Eva Olid bites back at suggestions over her style of play

Manchester United Women manager Eva Olid has been speaking to the press ahead of her side’s huge clash with Chelsea Women.

The Red Devils started the season in less than ideal fashion when they lost 2-1 to London City Lionesses in the opener.

Whilst speaking at her press conference, Olid outlined what her team has done this week in training to try and bounce back from their loss.

She explained, “I think the first day back on Monday, because we gave the weekend off, we analysed the game together. I think we were clear on why we lost the game, and for me that’s so important — that the players understand what we had to do better, because that’s the way to improve. We need to understand together what we had to do better.”

Olid also emphasised that the players need to work hard to get used to the style of football that she wants to implement.

Injury news

Unfortunately, the Red Devils will be in a weaker position squad-wise for the match, as Olid confirmed Jayde Riviere will not be able to feature.

She explained, “we have a new injury with Jayde. She finished the match with calf problems, so she’s not going to be in the squad because of the injury. Emma (Watson) was already not available last week. She will be a few weeks out.”

The Spaniard also commented that potentially two other players may have medical issues, but she is waiting for the medical team and physios to get back to her about it.

Chelsea threat

Olid admitted that Chelsea are a tough team but that her United will be focused on hurting them.

When outlining her game plan, she said, “I expect to see confidence with the ball, with everyone showing that we want to have the ball. It’s everything about that — about confidence. That is the main focus: when we have the ball, we enjoy having the ball and we really have the confidence to create chances, put them in difficult situations and, hopefully, score goals.”

When analysing what went wrong on Friday night, she claimed that her team had not felt the pressure of a real game while trying to implement a new style in pre-season and, as a result, struggled to create chances.

Sticking to gameplan

The former Hearts boss emphasised that, in spite of the tough matches versus Chelsea and Arsenal coming up, the team needed to stick to the plan and implement their new style of football.

She added, “it’s still believing in what we are doing. We’re not going to change because the first game was not as we expected. We need to believe in what we are building. I said it’s a process, and you have to be faithful to the principles and what we believe in. We are going to continue developing and building how we want to play.”

Olid also stressed at the conclusion of her press conference that, in spite of how impressive Chelsea are, they have weaknesses like all teams that can be exploited. She also asserted that it was clear United would miss Riviere’s attacking prowess, but that she is confident that her players can step up in the Canadian’s absence.

Featured image by Richard Pelham via Getty Images