Not your average Joe

Joe – or “Pepe”, as he prefers to be known – Montemurro wasn’t a name familiar to most football fans, even the ones who follow the women’s game. Certainly, few expected it’d be a coach from Australia replacing Pedro Martinez Losa as the manager of the Arsenal women’s team. However, Arsenal did their homework to find an interesting coach who would take the team forward.

Montemurro is, if nothing else, highly qualified.

As a player, Montemurro had spells at Brunswick Zebras in Australia, Neuchetel Xamax in Switzerland and Potenza in Italy. His playing career was predominantly spent in Australia as a midfielder until he retired and moved into coaching in 1995. From that point, it was all about education and learning from his idols.

Montemurro spent much of his coaching career hopping between various youth set-ups in Australia. From 2001 to 2006, he headed three different teams and had reasonable success. Green Gully Soccer Club, a Melbourne-based club that participated in the Victoria Premier League, was his first big break. He took their u21 side to second place in his first year. He then moved on to coach the youth team of the Melbourne Knights, who were then playing in the now defunct National Soccer League. It was during the 2002-03 season that he guided them to the play-off to become the National Youth Champions. When the National Soccer League folded in 2004, Montemurro was offered a senior position in the Victorian Premier League. However, he opted to stay in youth football, and moved on to cross-town rivals South Melbourne.

It wasn’t until 2006 that he made the set-up to senior football. His record at South Melbourne saw him drafted in by Sunshine George Cross. The Georgies, as they were known, were struggling near the bottom of the Victorian Premier League. Montemurro was tasked with keeping them up and, with a draw against Melbourne Knights on the final day of the season, he did exactly that. He parted ways in mid-2007 to take on a role at Hume City, who he guided to promotion. After that was a brief stint with North West Wanderers, before returning to youth football in 2010 with South Melbourne.

Next, Major step up…

Major step up

It was in 2014 that he got his first major job coaching in women’s football. Having gained his UEFA A license, he was appointed head coach for women’s football at the National Training Centre in Melbourne. His work there saw him become a youth coach with the Melbourne Victory Women’s team, who he guided to their highest league position in their history, before trading clubs again, this time to Melbourne City, the newest acquisition of the Manchester City Football Group.

When Melbourne City’s women’s team joined the Australian Women’s League, Montemurro became their head coach. It was here that he had his biggest successes, and likely came to Arsenal’s attention. In his first season in charge, Melbourne City went the entire campaign without losing, scoring 42, conceding just five and winning the league and cup double, all in their maiden season in the division. His second season wasn’t quite as impressive, as they finished fourth in the league. However, it still ended in success as they went to win the play-offs and be crowned Champions for a second season running.

In the meantime, his role with City had expanded to include assisting with the men’s team in the A-League. By 2017, he had become the Chief Assistant Coach, and had to relinquish control of the women’s team. 10 months later, he took up his first job outside of Melbourne: Arsenal, all the way over in London.

It’s unknown when Arsenal became aware of Montemurro’s talents, but they might have received a recommendation from Kim Little. The Scottish midfielder spent a single season on loan at Melbourne City, while she was contracted to the American side Seattle Reign. She was a part of that unbeaten season, where she scored 9 goals in 12 appearances. She was happy to hear that her coach from that time was coming to Arsenal, and optimistic that he could get Arsenal back to title-winning ways.

Montemurro himself describes his playing philosophy as fluid. He believes in having “thinking footballers” – players who can, in any situation, make the right decision on the pitch – who can play proactive football. For him, football is less about individual styles, and more about a holistic style.

Upon his appointment as coach of Melbourne Victory, he said: “I’ve always been fluid in my philosophy. Big statements like “I’m a ball possession playing side”, I personally don’t know any team that doesn’t want the ball. I think that’s just the base of the game.

“We will always play a game where football decisions are made. I will always give the ammunition to players to make the right decisions on the park. We will be well organised, I’m a detail freak, and we will always play a beautiful attacking brand of football. A technical base of football is always where we are heading.”

Australian publication The Football Sack described Montemurro as one of the most qualified Australian coaches around. He completed his UEFA A license and worked on a UEFA Pro Diploma with the Italian football federation. On top of that, he has a Masters in Sports Coaching from the University of Queensland. There is no aspect of coaching that he has left untouched.

While Arsenal got a good tactician, they also got someone who clearly values the human and psychological side of coaching. Montemurro names “personality” and “character” as the fundamentals of being a good coach, along with having a clear strategy on how the game should be played. He aims to make his players better people as well as better footballers as, in his words, not every girl will go on to become a professional footballer. His choice of favourite coaches is revealing on its own: Marcelo Bielsa, Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti head his list due to their willingness to go deep into group dynamics as well as tactics.

He may need all of his people skills to leave his mark on a growing squad of international stars and manage huge expectations. His task at Arsenal was to get the team playing cohesively again, shore up some long-standing defensive issues and take the club to a first title since 2012. Up against the considerable might of Chelsea and Manchester City, that was no small task.

Montemurro has proven to be adaptable and knowledgeable in his career so far. The move to English football was a big change for him, but it seems to be one he is more than up for.

23 July 2020

Is Arsenal’s 20-player-squad good enough to win the Champions League?

In a month’s time Arsenal’s women’s team will be in Spain trying to conquer Europe for a second time following their 2006/07 triumph and ahead of that the club have released both the new kit and squad numbers, but is the squad big enough?

The Champions League final eight play in the Basque Country where Arsenal will face France’s perennial runners-up, PSG, in the quarter-finals.

Thursday’s kit launch gave us the first pictures of the new recruits and their squad numbers.

Unless there is a new signing before the UEFA deadline on 18 August, we will have 20 professional players as follows:

Goalkeepers (3): 1. Manuela Zinsberger, 18. Lydia Williams, 24. Frances Stenson.

Defenders (7): 5. Jennifer Beattie, 6. Leah Williamson, 12. Stephanie Catley, 16. Noelle Maritz, 17. Lisa Evans, 20. Leonie Maier, 22. Viktoria Schnaderbeck.

Midfielders (5): 8. Jordan Nobbs, 10. Kim Little, 13. Lia Wälti, 14. Jill Roord, 21. Malin Gut.

Forwards (5): 7. Danielle van de Donk, 9. Beth Mead, 11. Vivianne Miedema, 15. Katie McCabe, 19. Caitlin Foord.

It’s worth noting that most players can actually play in at least three positions on the pitch as Joe Montemurro like players who are intelligent and flexible enough to play all over the pitch.

The five players in bold are those who will be added to the current Champions League squad as per the new regulations that allow six new signings, including a maximum of three from any other team still in the competition.

As UEFA allows a maximum of 25 players overall to be registered, it means another player can be added to Arsenal’s squad. It could be an Academy youngster, like Ruby Mace who is regularly training with the first team.

The other Academy player regularly training with them, Melisa Filis, is already registered in the Champions League squad.

So can this squad win the tournament?

The answer is yes, but it will not be easy.

The two favourites, Lyon and Wolfsburg, have really strong squads and all the teams still in the competition have signed a good numbers of players prior to the final eight mini-tournament.

Should Arsenal beat PSG, they would likely meet Lyon and that is a really tough game, unless FC Bayern managed to upset the holders.

Then in the final it is likely to be Wolfsburg, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid, and our former keeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin. Glasgow City are also still in the running but will play Wolfsburg in the quarter-final and it would be a giant upset if they beat the German champions.

There is a lot of strength in depth in Arsenal’s team. A lot more than last season and it is definitely needed as they could play three games to be played in nine days. With five subs allowed per game, the whole squad is likely to be involved should we go through to the final.

As there is not much time to integrate the new players, and we do not know yet how many friendlies will be played before the tournament next month, it is likely that the starting 11 against PSG will be very close to the one from last season.

I would expect this one: Zinsberger; Maier or Evans, Williamson, Beattie, Catley or McCabe; Wälti, Little, Nobbs; Van de Donk, Miedema, Mead or McCabe.

Hopefully, we can add another signing, though, as 18 outfield players would be a decent number that would provide proper cover when injuries  inevitably occur during the season.

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