Two games, six shots
Manchester United have taken six shots in their opening two Women’s Super League matches. Only one non-promoted side has ever managed as few at this stage of a season: Leicester City last term, and that campaign ended in relegation.
Eva Olid’s first weeks in England have produced a defeat to London City and a 5-0 loss to Chelsea. The underlying numbers read worse than the scorelines. United’s expected goals against Chelsea came to 0.20, and only once in their WSL history have they posted a lower figure, the 0.15 recorded against Manchester City in February 2022. They created no big chance in either match, the first time they have gone two WSL games without one since March 2024. Elisabeth Terland’s effort from the edge of the box was their only shot on target.
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A side that cannot get out of its own half
The problem runs deeper than finishing. Field tilt measures how much of the play a team stages in the opposition’s final third relative to its own. United’s figure against Chelsea was 17.4%, the fourth lowest they have recorded in the competition, and both matches this season sit inside their ten worst. Seventy per cent of their touches have come in their own half.
Four touches in the Chelsea box and 21 successful final-third entries were club records at the wrong end of the ledger. Jess Park created 30 chances last season and has created none so far. Ella Toone has yet to register a touch in the opposition box, the last such run coming in April 2023. Summer signing Andrea Medina leads the squad with six box touches, which says as much about the rest of the team as it does about her.
Chelsea supplied the rest
Sonia Bompastor’s side forced 25 high turnovers, six of which ended in a shot. Only Chelsea themselves, in September 2021, have generated more shot-ending turnovers against United. Dominique Janssen became the first United player in WSL history to make two errors leading directly to goals in the same match. Phallon Tullis-Joyce made six saves and the margin was still five.
United have now lost three consecutive WSL matches for the first time and are winless in six league games. The Opta supercomputer still gives them a 35.7% chance of finishing fourth, down 3.6 points since August, while a relegation play-off probability that started the season at zero now reads 0.4%.
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