On Sunday, Manchester United extended their unbeaten run under Eva Olid to 11 games in all competitions with a 1-0 win over Aston Villa. It required a late goal from substitute Julia Zigiotti to secure the three points, but United had more than enough chances to win comfortably.
Here are five things United fans can take away from the game.
Three at the back
Jayde Riviere came back into the starting XI for the first time since the season opener against London City Lionesses, and Olid used her return to change the system. In possession, United moved into a more attacking back three, with Riviere and Anna Sandberg pushing high as wing-backs. Ella Toone and Jess Park operated as two No 10s behind striker Elisabeth Terland.
A couple of players looked to benefit from the change and the two who stood out most for me were United’s two Canadians: Riviere and Simi Awujo. Awujo played alongside Hinata Miyazawa in a double pivot, while Riviere had the licence to push forward and put several excellent crosses into the box, none of which were converted.
Awujo has mostly featured this season in the No 10 role. Here, she played deeper but was able to arrive later into the box, using her speed and power on the ball to create opportunities for herself and others.
Ella Toone
Question marks around her performances and question marks around her future at the club. Toone is a player with the spotlight always firmly upon her, but this season it feels even stronger.
Her performances took an upturn after she was initially left out of England’s October squad by Sarina Wiegman, but her season is yet to fully get going. Against Aston Villa, there was noticeable frustration on the pitch, even more so when she was substituted for eventual match-winner Zigiotti in the 62nd minute.
Toone’s ability when on form is undeniable and United are a better team when she is performing at her top level. But can Olid get the best out of her again? So far this season, that doesn’t look to be the case.
As the January transfer window approaches, the noise around her future is only going to get louder. Toone is undoubtedly a legend of the club and is United’s all-time leading goalscorer and appearance-maker. But with her contract expiring next summer, and the club clearly conscious of protecting the value of its players, could January become the point at which both parties have a decision to make?
Lack of clinicality
A familiar theme of United’s season is their lack of ruthlessness in front of goal and the game against Aston Villa was no different. United generated 1.94 xG from 18 shots, seven of them on target, and had 36 touches in the opposition box.
The stats don’t tell the full story either. Multiple times in the first half, good crosses went into the box, only for nobody to anticipate them quickly enough or for the resulting finish to lack conviction.
United look comfortable on the ball and are moving it more quickly from defence through midfield and into the final third. It is there that the composure seems to disappear. With several different systems producing the same problem this season, it is increasingly looking like a personnel issue rather than a tactical one.
Olid has made United more structured defensively since their opening two defeats, and that improvement is clear during the current unbeaten run. The next major task is turning their chances into goals.
United’s forwards haven’t been firing in the WSL. Midfielder Zigiotti is the club’s top league scorer with four goals, followed by Terland and Andrea Medina on two each. Mared Griffiths, meanwhile, has six goals in the Subway Players Cup. The opposition is different, but perhaps it is time to give her more opportunities in the WSL.
Subs to the rescue
The system changed in the second half, with Medina coming on for Riviere and United returning to a back four. Park moved to the right wing and Medina to the left.
United finally broke the deadlock when Zigiotti headed home Hanna Lundkvist’s cross just 10 minutes after coming on. Both substitutes had an impact. Medina gave United better structure on the left, while Zigiotti energy through the middle was exactly what they needed.
Having match-winners off the bench shows that United’s depth is getting stronger. Olid said post-match: “It’s so good that we have depth. We had a lot of options on the bench today to change the game. And, as a manager, that is what we need.”
Something that has become noticeable in the WSL, however, is that certain players are rarely being given the opportunity to change games. Summer signings Monica Jusu Bah and Rebeca Bernal have each played only around 100 minutes in the league since arriving, despite regularly making the bench. Ellen Wangerheim has yet to feature in the WSL despite making the bench in seven games. Griffiths was again an unused substitute despite being the club’s top scorer this season through her Players Cup goals.
The results are coming at the moment, so there is an obvious argument for not changing too much. But United may benefit over the course of the season from giving some of those players more opportunities to influence games, particularly while the team continues to waste chances.
Options triggered
During Friday’s pre-match press conference, Olid announced that Manchester United had triggered the one-year options in the contracts of five players, extending their deals until June 2028: Lucy Newell, Griffiths, Dominique Janssen, Sandberg and Zigiotti.
Olid said: “They are players that I am looking forward to keep working with, keep developing, improving together and growing together. Apart from good players, they are really nice people. For me, it’s so important to keep the good people, good players in the atmosphere because we want to create a positive atmosphere. Where everyone comes here happy, improving, demanding, challenging each other but with a positive atmosphere.”
United have more players out of contract next summer and it’s going to be a busy few months if they want to tie key players down to longer-term deals. Triggering the options makes sense because it gives United more time to negotiate and assess where the club stands financially and in terms of personnel over the next 12 months.
