Eva Olid Takes Charge at Manchester United: A Call for Brave, Attacking Football
Eva Olid has walked into Manchester United with a simple demand: be brave, and attack.
The new head coach begins her Women’s Super League reign on Friday night, away at London City Lionesses, under the lights and under scrutiny. Kick-off is 19:00 BST. The questions have already started.
She arrives from Hearts, replacing Marc Skinner after his summer departure, and does so against a backdrop of doubt. A quieter transfer window than many United fans expected has fuelled the feeling that a top-three push might be slipping out of reach before a ball is even kicked.
Olid has heard all of it. She is not flinching.
“It’s normal, no? It’s normal to have people doubting. I have felt the support a lot too,” the Spaniard said, leaning on her record in Scotland as a reference point rather than a shield. “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. Pre-season has not exactly crackled with promise, yet her message to the dressing room has stayed the same: take risks, play on the front foot, accept the consequences.
“My ambition is attacking football. I focus the gameplans on how we can hurt the teams. All teams have weaknesses we can exploit,” she said.
This is not a tweak, it is a shift. Olid is asking United to move away from what they were under Skinner and towards something more aggressive, more expansive.
“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,” she explained.
Change, though, needs managing. With the opener looming, she has chosen not to overload her players with every detail of her philosophy at once.
“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 hierarchy knew what they were signing up for. They wanted a coach who would push United towards a more daring identity, even if that meant living dangerously at times.
“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 real test. On Friday, in London, we find out how ready United are to live with the risks that come with the courage they demanded.
