Manchester United Women have turned a corner lately after a rough start under new manager Eva Olid.
The Catalan coach has guided her team to four consecutive wins, and they will look to make it five in a row when they face Charlton Athletic away on Sunday afternoon.
The BBC sat down with the United coach to pick her brains on the club’s start to the new season.
Hard work
Olid revealed that she has not had much time to explore the city, as she has been spending most of her time between the training ground and home while preparing for her new role.
Joining in the middle of pre-season was never going to be easy, but she explained what message she tried to convey to her players.
She stated, “I showed that I’m a person before a coach. I didn’t have time to be aware of where I was. I just went there, be myself trying to transmit to the players how I see football, to work hard, that I’m going to be there for them, that I want to make them better players. Trying to transmit the key messages that I wanted the players to take from the first moment.”
Tough first week
The Red Devils started the season in horrendous fashion, losing 1-2 to London City Lionesses before being taken apart 0-5 at home by Chelsea.
Nonetheless, Olid can see the positives from this hard week.
She asserted, “it was a difficult week. There were honest conversations. I took responsibility for a lot of things. I think that was a good starting point for the players. I was confident. It’s crazy to say, I was confident because I knew what the problem was. And when you know the problem, you can change that.”
The following week, United played excellently in a 1-1 draw versus Arsenal at the Emirates in a match they probably deserved to win.
Olid claimed she was incredibly happy with the team’s performance and said, “when you are in Manchester United, you need to find a way to win. It’s a challenge – how you can win and at the same time develop players and at the same time implement a new style of play. You need to find the balance of all that together. And I think these last weeks, we got to that point.”
The new coach is settling into the city but has said that she still needs to find a “100% authentic” Spanish tapas bar in the city and hasn’t been brave enough to try driving on British roads yet.
Old Trafford experience
Finally, she explained how special it will be when she gets the chance to take her team to play at Old Trafford for the first time.
She added, “I came 13 years ago to a game – as a fan of football, and what I remember was amazing. On Saturday I went for second time and they showed me the changing rooms. The day that we play there this season, I will feel the happiest person in the world, like really like a dream.”
Man United Women results
Featured image by Jess Hornby via Getty Images
