Manchester United's defensive rebuild explains the WSL revival under Eva Olid
Two opening defeats, including a 5-0 loss to Chelsea, have given way to six games unbeaten and fourth place, with the draw against Manchester City offering the clearest evidence yet of a settling structure.
Manchester United have gone from back-to-back WSL defeats to six games unbeaten in all competitions, climbing to fourth in the table after a 1-1 draw with Manchester City, according to The Analyst (Opta). The shift matters because it comes from a manager whose methods were being openly questioned only a month ago.
Eva Olid's start was as bad as the club's WSL history allows. The 5-0 defeat to Chelsea and a loss to London City Lionesses made United only the second side in WSL history to open a season with consecutive defeats, after their own debut campaign in 2019-20, The Analyst reported. At that point, Olid's stated aim of building a possession-based, attack-minded team was difficult to see in the results or the performances.
Why the early defeats mattered beyond the scoreline
A 5-0 loss does not just register as five conceded goals. It is usually a sign that the defensive structure behind a possession-based build-up has not yet been drilled in. Teams that commit numbers forward to dominate the ball, as Olid wants United to do, are vulnerable in transition if the press that should recover the ball higher up the pitch is not synchronised with the back line holding its shape. Early in the season, the gap between United's attacking intent and their defensive organisation was the story: the ambition was visible, the control to execute it was not.
That is the normal cost of installing a new possession-first identity quickly. A double pivot or a back line designed to play out from deep only works once players trust where their cover is; until then, turnovers in midfield become direct runs at goal. United's two opening losses look, with hindsight, less like evidence Olid's project was flawed and more like the exposed seams of a team still learning when to press, when to drop and how to defend the space in behind a higher defensive line.
What the City draw actually shows
The 1-1 draw with Manchester City is the clearest data point in United's turnaround, and Guardian Football framed it precisely as United's new manager putting the brakes on City's winning start. Holding one of the league's strongest sides to a draw says more about defensive organisation than beating a struggling team would, because City's attacking patterns test exactly the kind of transition moments that undid United in August.
A result like that typically requires a team to defend compactly in a low block when out of possession while still being capable of building through midfield rather than simply clearing long when they win the ball back. If United managed both against City, it suggests the gap between attacking ambition and defensive discipline that Olid's side showed early on is beginning to close, not because the attacking principles have been abandoned, but because the structure protecting them is more secure.
A contrast worth drawing from Arsenal
Guardian Football's coverage of the same weekend offers a useful counterpoint. Arsenal needed seven games to register only their second league win of the season, beating Tottenham via a penalty that came off Ella Morris's raised arm. Alessia Russo, who scored it, told the BBC: "It's been tough. We haven't got the results we wanted." She added separately: "This was an important win as far as north London derbies goes. It was really important and this was a great opportunity to try and turn it around."
The Guardian's own assessment was blunt: the performance was sloppy and lacking fight for long periods, and Arsenal still have a long way to go to salvage their start. Set against that, United's progress looks more structural than fortunate. Arsenal's win came through a refereeing decision and a result they clung onto late; United's draw with City came from a visible defensive plan holding up against a genuine test.
The broader point, as The Analyst noted when assessing Olid's alarming start a month ago, is that new managers are often judged before their ideas have had time to embed. United's early collapse against Chelsea looked like confirmation of a flawed project. Six unbeaten games later, including a draw against one of the league's benchmark teams, it reads instead as the price of installing a possession-based system before the defensive half of it had caught up.
United sit fourth in the WSL table on the back of that run. The next fixtures will show whether the defensive discipline seen against City can be repeated against teams set up to attack the half-spaces United are still learning to protect, rather than simply whether the unbeaten run itself continues.
Sources
- The Analyst (Opta): Manchester United’s WSL Turnaround: Is the Eva Olid Effect Taking Shape?
- Guardian Football: WSL talking points: Russo to Arsenal’s rescue and Olid makes Manchester United progress
- Planet Football: When four English clubs lost their big-club status as Manchester United face decline