MONTEMURRO GIVES STYLE & SUBSTANCE TO GUNNERS
Arsenal Women Chelsea Women Women’s Super League, tomorrow, 12.30pm
v JOE MONTEMURRO’S Arsenal will face reigning champions Chelsea in a top-of-the-table Women’s Super League clash after overseeing a remarkable 13 months.
Leaders Arsenal are back on top of the women’s game and determined to get back to where they were before last year’s Double winners Chelsea (below) as well as Manchester City knocked them off their perch.
They face a tough test when they entertain Chelsea tomorrow but at the heart of Montemurro’s success is a commitment to style which has been the underlying reason for their impressive run this season.
Montemurro, who took over with Arsenal struggling for form back in December 2017, said: “I’ll say this: style rules.
“We’ve got some rules about how we play.
“It’s our duty at Arsenal, our right at Arsenal to play an attractive brand of football. We want to play the right way, be risk-takers, be brave and proactive. We want to have the ball because then we have a good chance of controlling our destiny.
“We had to improve on last year and if you look at last year, we missed out by one point on second.”
Aussie Montemurro, 49, is the son of an Italian immigrant, grew up as an Arsenal fan and played in the lower leagues in Italy before doing his UEFA Pro Licence badges there with the likes of AC Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso and former Chelsea defender Christian Panucci.
But Montemurro’s philosophy – which is what convinced Arsenal to lure him from Melbourne City – comes from his playing days.
He said: “I didn’t like running much as a player. I always liked having the ball, doing things with the ball and that’s reflected in the way that I want my teams to play.”
It could be a big year for Arsenal’s women but also the game in general with the World Cup next summer.
He added: “We’re in such a great position because we’ve got the World Cup coming up this year, the league is so competitive and the women’s game is a really good place to be at the moment.”