Kim Little is looking forward to playing under new manager Joe Montemurro.
The Australian coach recently joined Arsenal Women after Pedro Martinez Losa left his post. Having previously coached Melbourne City in Australia, not much is known about Montemurro.
However, Kim Little played under him for four months during her time in Australia, and believes he can lead Arsenal back to success.
“I worked with him for four months and I played out in Melbourne in the W League there, and I really enjoyed working with him,” Little told Arsenal.com.
“He likes to coach and play the way that I enjoy playing, which is playing good football with a purpose with a kind of relaxed atmosphere around the team.
“I played under him for quite a short period of time, but we had a great team there and we played possession based football, playing through the thirds with a purpose trying to break teams down as quickly and effectively as possible.
“Everybody doesn’t know too much about Joe, because he has obviously been coaching in Melbourne, but we’re all looking forward to him coming in, putting his stamp on the team and taking us forward in terms of performance.”
Montemurro won back-to-back league titles with Melbourne City, including going the 2015/16 season unbeaten. Little was sent to Melbourne City on loan during that season, and scored nine goals in 12 games under Montemurro’s management.
Arsenal haven’t won a league title since 2012, and are currently five points off the pace in this season’s title race. The season hasn’t started particularly well for the women’s team. They’ve won twice in the Super League, but drew with Bristol City and were hammered 5-2 by Manchester City.
In the league cup, Arsenal recently lost to Reading, with former player Fara Williams scoring twice against them. Despite heavy investment in the squad, results declined under Losa’s management. It’ll now be up to Montemurro to turn the team’s fortunes around.