Manchester United manager Eva Olid has said she is “asking for recommendations” as she prepares to look around Manchester for the first time during the international break.
The Spaniard replaced Marc Skinner two months ago after leaving Hearts, but she has been so busy working that she has yet to explore her new home. United beat rivals Liverpool on Saturday, making it back-to-back wins against Liverpool, and now have a fortnight’s break from action while international play-offs for the World Cup take place.
“I didn’t stop from when I arrived!” she said. “Home, work, home, work. My parents are here, my family are here and now I want to discover Manchester.”
The comments come after a testing start to Olid’s tenure. Despite great success in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, she arrived at United as an unknown quantity in English football. United lost to London City Lionesses on the opening night of the Women’s Super League season and were then thrashed 5-0 at home by Chelsea a week later, managing just two shots on target combined in those games. A draw at Arsenal was promising, and four straight wins across the WSL and League Cup, with 18 goals scored, suggest her philosophy is starting to get through.
Olid is not satisfied yet. “I am so happy for the players – they deserve it,” she said. “We have started to click in a lot of things and they fight for each other. But there is still a lot to improve. We created chances, but our last pass and our finishing needs to be better. That will come.”
Liverpool counterpart Gareth Taylor was less impressed with Olid’s tactics, having seen his side’s encouraging start to the season stunted by two defeats in their past three. “They were very direct and we fell into their trap,” he said. “Their goalkeeper was literally kicking out of her hands. We have got to be braver and there are lessons to learn. This was the first time where we have not been a good reflection of ourselves.”
United’s women’s team play most of their home matches at Leigh Sports Village, approximately 12 miles west of central Manchester, while they train on the same site as the men at Carrington in Trafford.