“The players have been…”: Eva Olid pinpoints what has gone wrong with Man United Women so far

Manchester United Women boss Eva Olid was speaking to the press ahead of her team facing Arsenal tomorrow evening.

After a disheartening 0-5 loss to Chelsea last weekend, Olid explained to reporters what her message was to her players this week.

Response

She explained, “my main message has been about being themselves. I don’t think they’ve shown who they are or what they can do in the first two matches. It’s important that they feel comfortable and show what they’re capable of. We had a day to reflect and analyse the game, looking at what we can do better. We know what we need to improve, and that’s important going into Saturday.”

The Spaniard admitted that while she is trying to implement a new style, the team cannot forget what they were good at last season and perhaps the team can try to introduce new concepts bit by bit.

She added, “maybe the players have been overthinking and trying to do too much. In the end, they don’t express themselves as well as they can. I see them in training, but in matches, I see a different version of the players.”

Olid stated that in spite of the results, preseason had gone well and “we need to bring back what we were doing well, build confidence, and gradually implement the new style. Finding that balance is important.”

Outside pressure

Speaking out on media pressure over the job she has done so far, she was philosophical about it.

The former Heart of Midlothian coach added, “I think constructive criticism is normal, and I understand it because our first two performances haven’t been good. We are the first ones who aren’t happy with those performances. But there’s another part that I don’t understand: people wanting too much, too soon. I don’t think people who understand football believe that the beginning defines the rest of the season.”

Olid continued, “our difficult moment is coming at the start, but I think we’re learning and growing as a team. Difficult moments help you grow. When we get through this difficult moment and build momentum, I think we’ll be much better than we would have been without experiencing it.”

The Catalan coach is under no illusion over the difficulty of facing the Gunners tomorrow, but she is also approaching the task with optimism.

She claimed, “they’re one of the best teams in the world. They’re a really good team with a big squad. It doesn’t matter who’s playing; they’ll have top players and a top coach. But we need to focus on ourselves. The most important thing on Saturday is to improve our performance and start showing who we want to be.”

Olid also stated that she wants her team to try to remember the defensive solidity they achieved in previous seasons and to build on that in this campaign.

Finally, the boss stated that there were no fresh injury updates and that Jayde Riviere and Emma Watson are both still on the sidelines.

Smartframe Eva Olid