Montemurro: We now need to be more consistent, and more brave
CommBank Matildas Head Coach Joe Montemurro said that the team would work on becoming more consistent with the principles that he is trying to apply throughout the remainder of the international window.
He was speaking to media at the pre-match press conference in Perth ahead of Australia’s second game against Slovenia on Sunday evening.
“[Thursday night] painted a lot of really good pictures for us,” he reflected.
“We can build on that. The footage showed some situations of [incorrect] positioning, the ability to understand the situation at times. The key message was protecting the ball, and just making sure that we prepare with the ball a lot better.
“We can do it. We showed it. We just now need to be more consistent, and more brave with it.”
The coach revealed that the recovery from game one had gone well, and all of the players involved were ready for game two.
“We'll assess everyone later today in terms of the starting lineup,” he said.
“But the reality is, the recovery has been very good. The energy to be back and together has probably aided that. If there's any precautions we need to take, we'll take them.”
He reiterated his assessment of the 3-0 victory on Thursday night.
“It's like anything - the more you analyse it, the more you start picking things out of it,” he smiled.
“As a whole, right after the game, it really it gave me a really good feeling and sensation that playing against [Slovenia] allowed us to see the realities of the way we want to play, but also what we need to do to fix the issues of technical errors and decision making.
“It was a perfect game to learn and a perfect game to grow off.
“We also have to put in context the period of the season - mostly out of season - players who haven't played a lot, players who are coming back from injury, and so on. As a whole, we're trying to find a good balance.”
He also made it clear that he didn’t expect the players to be perfect from day one of his tenure.
“It'll take a while,” he explained.
“The more we do it, the more we understand the important pass, or the important situation of breaking a line, I'm sure they'll be a little bit more proactive.
It's normal when you say you want to pay play possession - and it's a word that's bantered a lot - it's normal that they do the safe things to keep possession. Now we have to be smarter to say, okay, we can prepare to go forward and be more proactive and break lines.”
He didn’t reveal what his team would look like tomorrow evening, but hinted that there would be changes.
“If I tell you, there's no surprise!” he joked.
“There will be changes. It’s great in terms of the lead-up into the next block, where we can really tighten up a few situations.”
COMMBANK MATILDAS | JUNE/JULY 2025 | MATCH SCHEDULE
Series One
CommBank Matildas 3 v Slovenia 0
Date: Thursday, 26 June 2025
CommBank Matildas v Slovenia
Date: Sunday, 29 June 2025
Kick-off: 6.00pm WST / 8.00pm AEST
Venue: HBF Park, Perth
TV Broadcast: Paramount+ exclusive
Radio Broadcast: ABC Listen App
Tickets: Buy Tickets
Series Two
CommBank Matildas v Panama
Date: Saturday, 5 July 2025
Kick-off: 2.30pm WST / 4.30pm AEST
Venue: Hands Oval, Bunbury
TV Broadcast: Paramount+ exclusive
Radio Broadcast: ABC Listen App
Tickets: Buy Tickets
CommBank Matildas v Panama
Date: Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Kick-off: 6.00pm WST / 8.00pm AEST
Venue: HBF Park, Perth
TV Broadcast: Paramount+ exclusive
Radio Broadcast: ABC Listen App
Tickets: Buy Tickets