“She’s so good on the ball”: Eva Olid lavishes praise on surprise player ahead of Crystal Palace match

Manchester United Women manager Eva Olid has been speaking to the media ahead of her side’s home match in the Women’s Super League (WSL) against Crystal Palace.

Squad updates

Olid admitted she was still waiting for physio reports, but the only player definitely out is Scarlett Hill, who will be out of action for weeks.

Hanna Lundkvist form

The Catalan coach praised her side’s tactical performance versus Aston Villa last weekend and singled out the Swedish international Lundkvist for special praise.

Olid explained, “I think she’s a player who can play in different positions. She can play as a full-back, a wing-back or a wide centre-back. With the national team, she’s also playing as a number six.”

She continued, “she’s so good on the ball. She’s a player who can come inside and can play out wide. As a manager, you always like having those kinds of players because you know they’re versatile and can play in different positions, giving different things to the team.”

Crystal Palace threat

Explaining the type of threat Palace will pose, she asserted, “I expect a very competitive match. They’ve been having good matches, especially their last result against Tottenham on Wednesday. It was a very competitive match, and they could have won the game.”

Olid continued, “for that reason, I expect a really good match, tactically and in terms of intensity. I hope everyone enjoys it.”

Despite her side being on an 11-game unbeaten streak, Olid still wanted to focus on what her side needs to work on.

She added, “I know it’s repetitive, but we’re still in a process. We know there are a lot of things we have to improve. For me, it’s so important that I can see the team gaining a lot of confidence on the ball and starting to connect with each other. That’s what we need. For me, that’s a big step from where we started the season to where we are now, particularly in terms of confidence on the ball and connections between the players.”

Finally, she also warned her players that the longer their streak goes on, the harder it will be to maintain.

She explained, “I think all teams are motivated when they play against Manchester United in general. But if they know that we haven’t lost in 11 games, I think that’s going to give the opposition even more motivation. We just have to stay focused and take it week by week. We need to try to win the next match independently of everything else. Just the next match and nothing more.”

United will kick off later today at 12:45 at the Progress with Unity Stadium.

Featured image by Ben Roberts Photo via Getty Images