Olid: Tullis-Joyce is a leader

Eva Olid wants to see more of the same from Phallon Tullis-Joyce moving forward, after the goalkeeper’s contribution to Manchester United’s WSL win over Liverpool on Saturday.

It marked a first clean sheet of the season for our new head coach and, while there was a huge defensive effort from the whole team, Tullis-Joyce had a significant role to play.

Our no.91 made a number of high claims in the box as Liverpool pushed forward in the final quarter of the game. She had already made an outstanding double save in the first half, springing up from the initial shot to also stop the rebound, but also kept the visitors at bay with a handful more towards the end.

“I speak a lot with Phallon to try to give her that confidence,” Olid commented in her post-match press conference. “And, I say to her, ‘You have to be a leader,’ because the goalkeepers see everything and then you need to step up and be a leader and show a lot of security to the team.

“I think she’s [giving] more every time. She’s a quiet person, but I say, ‘On the pitch, you need to show [it] because you are so important.’”

Phallon dominated in the air.

‘WE NEED TO BE CALMER IN THE FINAL THIRD’

Olid has spent the last few weeks putting her stamp on this team, seeing improvements game by game – it’s now four wins in a row across all competitions, but there remains room to grow.

Julia Zigiotti’s winning goal, scoring in the sixth minute, resulted from a high press that forced Liverpool goalkeeper Khiara Keating into a stray pass. Julia was in the right place to pick up the loose ball and guide it over the stranded Keating.

“The identity of this team is a high press,” Olid said. “I don’t want to change that because they do it really well.”

What she’s focused on is instilling more confidence and calmness in the critical attacking moments: “[Give] the players more confidence in attack and with the ball, and we can score chances from playing nice football that they can enjoy, and the fans and everyone can enjoy.

“I think we are improving but, still, we have to be better in final-third situations, but I know it’s going to come. The last pass, the last decision, we have to be better, because with all the times we were in final third in the box, we could score more goals, just being more calm.

“I think that sometimes we want to run a lot and do the last pass so quick and it’s not. Sometimes we need to be more calm and we will score more goals when that happens.”