Six shots in two matches
Manchester United have taken six shots in their opening two Women’s Super League games this season. Only one non-promoted side has ever managed as few at that stage of a campaign: Leicester City last year, in a season that finished in relegation.
Eva Olid arrived in the summer with a brief that made a slow start plausible. Several senior players left, the club committed to youth and a leaner model, and the squad was not rebuilt. Losing at London City on opening night was one thing. A 5-0 home defeat to Chelsea was another.
United have now lost three consecutive WSL matches for the first time in their history, and are winless in six league games counting the end of last season. They finished fourth in 2025-26, nine points behind Chelsea and four clear of Tottenham, the first time they had dropped that low since 2021-22.
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A team stuck in its own half
Field tilt measures which side spends more time passing in the other’s defensive third. Against Chelsea, United’s read 17.4%, their fourth-lowest figure on record in the competition. Both of this season’s games rank inside their ten worst.
They managed four touches in the opposition box and 21 successful final-third entries, club lows in both. Their expected goals total against Chelsea came to 0.20, a figure beaten downwards only once, against Manchester City in February 2022.
Seventy per cent of United’s touches this season have come in their own half. They have not created a single big chance in either match, their first back-to-back blank since March 2024.
The individual numbers follow the team ones. Jess Park, who created 30 chances last season, has created none. Ella Toone has not registered a touch in an opposition box in either game, a run she last had in April 2023. Summer signing Andrea Medina has six, more than any teammate.
Punished on every mistake
Chelsea forced 25 high turnovers, six of which ended in a shot. No opponent has ever forced more turnovers against United in a WSL match. Olid’s side made four errors leading to shots, their worst on record, and two of those led straight to goals.
Dominique Janssen made both, becoming the first United player in WSL history to do so in a single game. United faced 25 shots and conceded 11 on target, the most in their league history, and Phallon Tullis-Joyce needed six saves to keep the margin at five.
The Opta supercomputer still gives United a 35.7% chance of a top-four finish, down 3.6 percentage points since the opening weekend. It also gives them a 0.2% chance of automatic relegation, a number that read zero in August.
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