{"id":1064,"date":"2019-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/why-arsenals-human-touch-is-essential-to-the-champions-drive-to-keep-winning-part-ii\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:28","slug":"arsenal-joe-montemurro-2","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/arsenal-joe-montemurro-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Arsenal\u2019s Human Touch is Essential to the Champions\u2019 Drive to Keep Winning – Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Oct 01, 2019 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Why Arsenal\u2019s Human Touch is Essential to the Champions\u2019 Drive to Keep Winning – Part II<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/arsenal-joe-montemurro-2\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
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In Part II, Arsenal Women’s Head Coach Joe Montemurro discusses the value of his in-house ‘style rules’ and the importance of having ‘no excuses’ at the full-time whistle.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read Part I here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n

Arsenal Women’s Head Coach Joe Montemurro occasionally discusses ‘insurance policies’ when discussing his team’s style of play in post-match interviews.<\/h4>\n

\u201cThe term \u2018insurance policies\u2019 always comes back to the style we want to play,\u201d he tells the Leaders Performance Institute. \u201cWe want to play a certain style of football, we want to have the ball more than the other team, and when we don\u2019t have the ball we want to be able to control what the other team does through balance and good organisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some rules that underpin that style that we work with as Bible everyday and we call them the \u2018style rules\u2019. Then within those style rules we have attacking movements, defending movements, and then we have tactical rules for non-negotiables with those attacking and defending movements. If things aren\u2019t going well then we stick to the style rules, which are our insurance policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

These rules were touched upon by Arsenal defender Leah Williamson in a recent interview with the Guardian<\/em>. \u201cHis management style is to set a base, almost a set of rules, and to follow them,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then the rest is you. It\u2019s almost like writing a paragraph and you adding in your own notes on the side. The freedom that he gives everybody \u2013 he just wants you to be the best player you can be and the best person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williamson is echoed by teammate Jordan Nobbs. \u201cJoe has turned this club around and he is one of the best managers I have ever worked with,\u201d she told The Athletic <\/em>in September. \u201cHe\u2019s created a foundation and rules but we have our freedom within that frame, which I think is an incredibly hard thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wins games by playing exciting football and every time I step onto that field, I feel he\u2019s played a role in me getting better as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williamson adds: \u201cWe spend two hours on the pitch a day, if that. The rest of it is about you as a person. It\u2019s human interaction. He is a human. I like him and I trust him because I respect him as a human\u2026 It\u2019s almost like the football is a by-product of everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ask Montemurro about the culture he has cultivated at Arsenal and he does not miss a beat. \u201cThe first and most important thing is humility,\u201d he tells the Leaders Performance Institute. \u201cJust the accessibility and the simple \u2018hellos\u2019, a handshake and a smile; there\u2019s no one higher or better, whoever they are, whether they\u2019re a big-name player or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important thing is that there\u2019s a levelling of everyone. I constantly remind the players of who they are, what they have, and the privileges here that very few people have; and I think that leveller is the human element. It\u2019s probably the most important thing apart from the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

The approach benefited his players, particularly during the spring\u2019s title run-in. \u201cIt\u2019s his human side that makes him a good manager,\u201d wrote Arsenal midfielder Dani\u00eblle van de Donk in the Guardian<\/em> last month. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to get caught up in needing to get trophies but he takes the pressure away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobbs has nothing but respect for Montemurro\u2019s approach when she suffered an ACL injury in November 2018 that sidelined her for 10-months and cost her a place at this summer\u2019s Women\u2019s World Cup. He kept his distance during the initial phase of her rehab.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you. Me and Joe didn\u2019t really speak for the first few months but not in a bad way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would always give me a cuddle when I walked past him because he just knew that whatever he said was not going to change me but that cuddle was powerful enough and was just a little bit of Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe couldn\u2019t have given me more confidence or respect as a player, and that\u2019s all I needed during my rehab.\u201d<\/p>\n

Respect: it is Montemurro\u2019s key consideration when approaching difficult conversations with players, particularly those conversations around selection. \u201cI think the key is being honest and upfront,\u201d he says, which makes sense when he says it but is too often absent in other sports and organisations. \u201cThen you\u2019ve got to know what triggers the player; it\u2019s so random and individual. Some players want constant information and feedback and some don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, as a coach, you might tell them \u2018you are not playing because I just don\u2019t think that today is going to be your day and it\u2019s better that you come off the bench and 20 minutes of A, B and C\u2019. Sometimes it might be that, the coach\u2019s gut feeling \u2013 we all have that \u2013 and I\u2019ve found that it\u2019s better to be honest than come up with some kind of nice idea. It\u2019s better to have that hard, honest conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2018No excuses\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arsenal\u2019s run to the WSL title was all the more remarkable given their extensive injury list throughout the campaign and, already this term, the duo of Dan Carter and Tabea Kemme have been lost to long-term injuries.<\/p>\n

Montemurro is not one to cite injuries as a valid reason for a drop-off in performance. \u201cWe work on a \u2018no excuses\u2019 policy at the club, within our team. I\u2019ve never been one, even as a coach, to say \u2018we lost today because we were missing player A, B or C\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI select the squad, I believe in each player, and whatever player we put in the starting XI or the squad of 16 is the one that will represent the club in the best manner possible and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s right to say \u2018we were missing player X and that\u2019s why we lost today\u2019 \u2013 it doesn\u2019t work like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pick the squad and there\u2019s always going to be injuries, suspensions, or players who are not playing well; and we need to make sure that we put the plans in place and the organisation in place and we prepare properly to give everyone the opportunity for the players to be their best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think by doing that you don\u2019t have a hierarchy of players, everyone\u2019s on the same wavelength and we rely on everyone to do their job; and when the players can rely upon each other then you\u2019re three-quarters of the way there.\u201d<\/p>\n

With such clarity of purpose, Montemurro\u2019s summer recruitment was completed early with the acquisitions of the Bayern Munich trio of Jill Roord, Manuela Zinsberger and Leonie Maier as well as Jen Beattie, who returns to Arsenal from Manchester City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did the work on those very, very early. We were very clear on what we needed. We\u2019ve got the added pressure and expectation of being champions now and we\u2019ll play in the Champions League,\u201d Montemurro told an Arsenal Supporters Club Q&A in July. \u201cBut we don\u2019t just want to be in it, we want to win it. So we were strategic about who we bought.\u201d<\/p>\n

He builds on the idea with the Leaders Performance Institute: \u201cWhen you know how you want to train, how you want to play, and when you play and implement a certain style then recruitment becomes simple because the profile of the player that you need is very clear within the style that you want to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

This finds its expression out on the pitch, where Arsenal\u2019s possession-based game continues to evolve under Montemurro\u2019s stewardship. It also speaks to the team culture, where each and every player in the squad strives to build on last season\u2019s monumental achievement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll go back to the first word I used to open this conversation: humility. It helps to ground the players and it helps them to understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get asked a lot about culture, which is a bit of a buzzword at the moment, but if there is a belief in the way you go about things and everyone is onboard with that then that creates the culture. I always say that we\u2019ve got a football culture; we always talk about football, we try to solve football problems, we try to solve football evolutions in terms of the way we work; that\u2019s creates the culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur culture is based on movement, the way we approach the game, the way we\u2019re going to work on the pitch, the way we\u2019re going to bring the rules and our style together. By having that constant challenge, that creates our humility and our constant search to get better as a group; that\u2019s where our humility comes from as a group.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Leaders Performance Institute wrap things up by asking Montemurro to reflect on what has satisfied him most from his first two years at Arsenal \u2013 a role where he continually asks himself if his position is simply down to someone playing a joke on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be tested at the highest level is where you want to be; working at the highest level at a great club. To have this opportunity continually challenges me to be better and I coach because I want to give people around me the opportunity to be better. If all of them can walk away from the experience they\u2019ve had with me and say \u2018I\u2019m a better person\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019ve grown as a person\u2019 or \u2018I can take something away that I can use as a life skill\u2019 then I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is in no doubt that Arsenal can fulfil his ambition of being one of the most successful teams in Europe, all while representing the jersey in the correct fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re privileged to be in this position and if I can make it a privilege for the players and make it the best place to work, and we can have a lot of fun along the way, then I think it\u2019s a recipe for growth, learning and success.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In Part I<\/a>, Arsenal Women’s Head Coach Joe Montemurro talks about the importance of clarity in the rules that you set and why conviction in your beliefs is something that most often comes with time.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

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