Eva Olid has insisted she is not shaken by the criticism directed at Manchester United’s difficult start to the season, arguing that the experience will ultimately make her players stronger.
The former Hearts manager, who arrived at United in August, has overseen two defeats in her opening matches. United began with a 2-1 loss away at London City Lionesses before suffering a 5-0 defeat against Chelsea last Sunday.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s tough-looking trip to face Arsenal, Olid made clear that a handful of results will not shape her judgement of the team. “The beginning, how you start, doesn’t define you [for] the rest of the season,” she said. “Two or three matches don’t define you, how you are or how you are going to be as a team.”
Olid pointed to the wider process of change at the club as a reason for patience, saying the direction of travel matters more than early results. “There have been transition changes but we know where we go, the direction and we know how we are doing will give us the success in the long term,” she said.
Rather than treating the losing run as a purely negative episode, the United head coach framed it as part of the club’s development. “All the teams, through the season, have a difficult moment. Our difficult moment is the start. But we are learning as a team to grow because the difficult moments make you grow. And once we are past this difficult moment and start our momentum, we will be so much better than without the difficult moment.”