CommBank Matildas Head Coach Joe Montemurro said he was pleased with the team's mentality and their ability to break lines in their 5-0 victory over New Zealand in Gosford on Friday evening.
He was speaking to the media in the post-match press conference after the comprehensive victory.
"We've worked a lot on understanding when we can break lines, and preparing to go forward," he said.
"My football's never been direct - meaning that, there's no 'hit and hope' sort of stuff. Sometimes you have to be direct, but it's a prepared direct football, which makes a little bit more sense. It's very important that when we pull out players or pull out lines in central areas, we have the opportunity to create space going forward.
"We found a lot of space with Emily van Egmond tonight, who was just popping out in behind their defensive line. It was very difficult for them to defend, because their midfielders feel they have to come across. When we did it, it prepared the attackers to go into positions going forward. We exposed them a few times.
"I was very pleased with that mentality, that bravery to say - we keep [the ball]. We attract the pressure, and we find the spaces, so that was good."
One of the big learning points for the team from this game was being able to defend in transition, when they are the team who are dominant in possession. Montemurro explained that there was plenty to work on from this game on that front, despite the five-goal victory.
"They hurt us a bit with their wing backs, who are very high," he said.
"We got exposed twice in the first half and three times in the second half. It was just frustrating, because we worked a lot on that defensive sort of scenario. So they did expose us a couple of times, which was disappointing in that scenario.
"When you're dominating, and you've got a lot of ball, you can always find those situations where you will get exposed sometimes with a long ball. It happened to me in Lyon. It happened to me when I was at Arsenal. It was the same thing. And it may exaggerate the game a little bit, those things, but they're things we need to fix and be better.
"But we were higher. We were more proactive. That was the most important thing, and that was our target after the England game."
Steph Catley has been playing in the centre of defence in clubland for Arsenal, and - while she has more often played on the left in Australian colours - was deployed at centre-back on Friday.
Montemurro gave some insights into his thinking with the back four going forward.
"I'm blessed, because I think we've got 3, 4 or 5 centre-back combinations," he expressed.
"In all honesty, Clare [Hunt] came back a little bit tired. She played Sunday night in London and got in quite late. So we just gave her a bit of a freshen up.
"With Steph, we were able to build up a little bit differently tonight. I felt that Steph was the person who could do that, in finding the passes into the midfield."
He gave some information on the injury front, with Sam Kerr not taking the field in Gosford.
"She's just had a bit of a grumbly sort of calf," he revealed.
"It hasn't settled properly. She's trained, so there are no problems. We got some load into it today. She did really well today, and she was a lot better. We just felt we would give it a little bit more time. That's all."
The CommBank Matildas take on New Zealand on Tuesday night in Adelaide, in the second game of a two-game series. Montemurro indicated that fans could expect some changes as the team looks to cover as many bases as possible ahead of the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2026™.
"We'll try a couple of other things in the next game," he said.
"I want to solidify an idea for the team, and we'll probably make a few changes, just to make sure that we've covered all the scenarios going into the Asian Cup. That's the most important thing in terms of the team balance, but also painting those pictures of what we might get in the Asian Cup.
"I was happy that New Zealand dropped off a little bit more, because we think we're going to get a lot of teams that will create mid-blocks. So we had to find the solutions with a little bit of patience, but also finding the space at the right time."
COMMBANK MATILDAS | NEXT GAME
CommBank Matildas v New Zealand
Date: Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Kick-off: 8pm ACDT
Venue: Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Broadcast: Network 10, 10 Play and Paramount+
Tickets: Buy Tickets