Joe Montemurro’s side kicked off their 2018/19 season with an impressive 3-1 win over West Ham United on Sunday, displaying fluid attacking football throughout.
Both Katie McCabe and Beth Mead found the back of the net as we started our defence of the FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup, but it was the way in which we controlled the game and scored that impressed Montemurro most.
He spoke to Arsenal.com after the game, and this is what he said:
On the team’s performance…
It was professional, very professional. West Ham are a very good team and I warned them in the week that they’ve got players who have played at good levels, they’re a well organised unit and they have a very good coach. We were always going to be up against a very well organised team, so we just had to be patient and break them down. It probably got a little bit boring as we were passing it around the back, but we were just waiting for opportunities to open up. I think the best one was the second goal where the passing in the build-up was very, very good.
On bouncing back in the second half after a slow start…
The speed with which we played at was very important - especially when we won the ball back and the speed with which we got to their goal. In the first half we had four opportunities where we broke and with three of four combinations of passes, we were at the goal, which is part of what we’re doing. We’ve now just got to find continuity and that’s going to come through playing games.
Kicking off the season with a win…
It’s always a good momentum game and you just need to keep things going. The exciting thing is that we rotated the squad a little bit today and we got the result, then you look at what we’ve got coming off the bench and what we’ve got to come back in and it’s exciting times.
On what challenges West Ham posed to his side…
They were organised and didn’t allow us to play through midfield, especially in the first half and they were very disciplined to do that. We just had to be patient and keep drawing them out until the opportunities opened up. All credit to West Ham, as they’ll be a very good team during the season and all credit to Matt, who’s put a very good team together
On Dominique’s new role at right back…
Dominique’s a special player, a great player, and she can play anywhere and that’s why I love having her in the squad. She can play as a right back, a left back, a centre back, as a six and all areas of the field and that’s the most important thing. That’s part of our team. You see Katie McCabe playing up top at times and then she’ll pop up at left back and Mitch has gone up – and that’s fluidity and you can’t mark that. That’s what we’re looking for. Dom’s an amazing professional and an amazing person to work with.
On Walti securing an early spot in the starting XI…
Lia’s important in build-up and every phase of the game. When she needs to break play and organise the press, she’s a very, very important player to us and she’s a big player. She’s got an amazing personality.
On McCabe scoring twice…
We work toward this fluidity and interchanging positions and we believe that it’s very hard to mark. As long as we continue to believe in playing that way we’ll continue to pose a threat.
On having the option to start Miedema or Mead through the middle…
It’s all about finding space. The idea is to identify and find space and where they can find space, and if there’s a line to pass then the pass is on and then we have runners off that pass. It’s a little bit of a secret of ours so I won’t go too far into it, but it’s all about the fluidity!
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