Two games, zero points
Manchester United were thumped 5-0 by Chelsea on Sunday. A week earlier, the Red Devils had already gone down to London City. Eva Olid’s first spell in England has started with nothing on the board.
The club lost several key figures over the summer and shifted towards a youth-led model. Nobody expected a flyer. Nobody expected this either.
United are on a three-game losing run in the WSL, a first in the club’s history. The winless league run now stands at six, two draws and four defeats. Sunday’s battering also ended a 12-game unbeaten home record on Sundays in the competition.
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Six shots, and Leicester are the only comparison
Six shots in two games. Only Leicester had been that poor for a non-promoted side at this stage of a WSL season, and Leicester went down at the end of that campaign.
Against Chelsea, United managed one shot on target, from Elisabeth Terland. Their expected goals total crawled to 0.20. One club figure is worse: the 0.15 posted against Manchester City in February 2022.
Finishing is not really the problem. United are spending far too much time in their own half, with 70 percent of their touches this season coming in their own territory. Against Chelsea they had four touches in the opposition box and 21 successful entries into the final third, both club lows in the WSL.
Jess Park has created nothing after setting up 30 chances last season. Ella Toone did not touch the ball in the opposition box across the two matches, a drought she had not lived through since April 2023. Andrea Medina, the Spanish signing, is the one bright spot with six touches in the box.
Chelsea made them pay for everything
The Blues forced 25 high turnovers. Six of them led to shots. United made four errors leading to an effort, their worst return in the competition, and two of those ended in goals. Dominique Janssen became the first Manchester United player to make two such mistakes in a single WSL match.
United faced 25 shots, 11 on target, another club record. Phallon Tullis-Joyce made six saves. Without her the damage would have run deeper.
Opta’s supercomputer still gives United a 35.7% chance of finishing fourth. Liverpool and Manchester City are up next month.
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