It was tough watching Manchester United’s players labour ineffectively against the hungry and aggressive press of London City Lionesses. Simi Awujo’s late consolation goal did little to ease the mounting concern for a side that have several teams nipping at their heels.
Don’t panic; that has to be United’s message. To an extent, it is very early to be writing the team’s obituary. The new head coach, Eva Olid, had only three weeks to try to implement her ideas about the way the team should play before their season opener in Bromley. That is not long enough for her to peel away Marc Skinner’s imprint on the team.
The forward Monica Jusu Bah did not arrive from the Swedish side Häcken until 28 August and Rebeca Bernal signed from Washington Spirit on 2 September. United’s late business, in regards to their managerial change and transfer activity, has put the team and coaching staff on the back foot, playing catch-up with clubs who got most of their business done early in the window to fully capitalise on the opportunity for a full pre-season, presented by the lack of a major international tournament.
The problem is that the spotlight is harsh on the red side of Manchester. The minority owner Jim Ratcliffe’s dismissive comments relating to the women’s team, and the lack of serious investment in the squad, provide reasons to be somewhat forgiving of the head coach and her charges, their struggles an indictment of a club that seemingly doesn’t fully care.
The focus is said to be on a sustainable investment model recruitment-wise and on developing younger players. In isolation they are admirable goals, but in the context of investment gathering pace at other Women’s Super League teams and the relative pocket change required at a club of United’s stature to have a transformatory effect on the women’s side, these goals become shackles.
There is some irony in Olid leaving Hearts and coming to United. She arrived in Scotland to take charge of an amateur team that had avoided relegation only owing to the expansion of the top division and within five years had taken them to professionalism and a Scottish Women’s Premier League title. She felt the level of investment then needed to make Hearts competitive in Europe was lacking and it was announced that she would depart at the end of the season. The WSL and its teams are miles ahead, developmentally, of the SWPL and its sides but Olid has landed at a club that have repeatedly failed to invest substantially enough to make them league or European title challengers.
Olid told the Catalan newspaper Ara that she would have stayed at Hearts “if my project continued”. She said: “I wanted to coach in Europe, but it was a preliminary round and perhaps we would be there for a week and get eliminated. I don’t want to go backwards, I preferred to leave after winning everything because otherwise I would feel frustrated.”
Frustration was the name of the game at United under Skinner. The former head coach was frustrated with what he regarded as a lack of support in transfer windows and fans grew increasingly frustrated with a lack of sustained progress. United would take a step forward, such a winning the FA Cup in 2024 or reaching the Champions League quarter-finals last season, then fail to push on.
Patience is thin and Olid’s task has been made a lot harder by seven departures and only four additions to what many viewed as an already light squad. Olid has said she has had assurances that United will be active in the winter window. “We have some plans in January about signing players that I really need for my style of play and game model,” she said in her first press conference.
However, United have 12 WSL games before January, plus cup games, and with Chelsea visiting on Sunday and a trip to Arsenal next Saturday, they have an extremely unforgiving start.
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Olid deserves time and patience. She is well respected and comes with a wealth of experience in her native Spain across boys’ academy football and women’s football and spent time at Houston Dynamo in the US.
Alongside battling critics unimpressed with the state of the team in their opening WSL game or questioning her managerial pedigree, she must contend with wave after wave of appalling sexist comments on social media that greet her every appearance. That surely will take a toll.
If Olid is able to weather the storm of frustration – which will grow if the team falter while players get used to her philosophy – and to force United to loosen the purse strings, they will be huge accomplishments.
Unfortunately, even success on the pitch is unlikely to end the online comments; it will probably just shift their tone. She deserves better in so many ways. The hope will be that she can build a connection with the playing group that enables them to punch above their weight until reinforcements potentially appear in January.
Their first opportunity to fend off the vultures is when they welcome Chelsea to Leigh and, with the Blues unconvincing in the final third against Aston Villa last Saturday, they can have a little hope.
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