Eva Olid's Bold Vision for Manchester United: Attack with Courage

Eva Olid wants Manchester United to attack – and to do it without fear.

The new head coach steps into the Women’s Super League for the first time on Friday night, away to London City Lionesses, with doubts already swirling around her team’s top-three credentials after a subdued summer and a change in the dugout. She is not flinching.

“The club wanted to play attractive football and be brave,” Olid said. “We know that can have risks but the club support me in that. They signed me for that.”

A bold brief for a new era

Olid arrives from Hearts, where she built her reputation by dragging the club far beyond expectations. That track record is now central to her response to those who have already written United out of the Champions League conversation.

“It’s normal, no? It’s normal to have people doubting,” she said. “I have felt the support a lot too. 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.”

She replaces Marc Skinner, who stepped down in the summer, and inherits a squad that has not been reshaped to the extent many fans wanted. The quieter transfer window has only fuelled questions about whether United can stay with the WSL’s pace-setters.

Olid isn’t interested in managing expectations. She is trying to change the team’s mentality.

‘My ambition is attacking football’

Pre-season has not been spectacular. She knows it. The performance levels have not yet matched the ideas. But the message to her players has been unwavering.

“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 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.

“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.”

So the revolution will be staged, not rushed. Some concepts parked for now, others pushed hard from day one. Above all, she wants courage on the ball and aggression without it.

Her demand is simple, even if the execution is anything but: be brave, attack, and accept the risks that come with it.

On Friday in London, the first verdict on that promise arrives.