Arsenal head coach Joe Montemurro was full of praise for opponents Reading after they prevented his side from taking three points at The Madejski Stadium on Sunday.
The Gunners failed to capitalise on the top two sides playing each other elsewhere, drawing 1-1 with a Reading side who impressed over the course of the 90 minutes.
The Barclays FA Women’s Super League’s top scorer, Vivianne Miedema, scored Arsenal’s goal to prevent them from falling to an unwanted record of three consecutive away defeats as The Gunners battled back to a draw after conceding an early goal to The Royals.
After the match, Arsenal head coach Montemurro was full of praise for Reading, emphasising that he ‘wouldn’t want to comeback and play against a very good Reading side’. The Royals played with high intensity throughout the game, forcing Arsenal into mistakes, resulting in The Gunners being unable to find a foothold in the game.
Speaking in the post-match press conference in which FA Women’s Super League Full-Time were present, Montemurro went on to say “We couldn’t find any solutions, everything took three touches. Our positioning wasn’t very good and we paid for it.
“Normally, we can bounce out with one pass, we weren’t capable of doing it.
“All credit to Reading, they pressed us in all the right areas.”
Although he was full of praise for Reading, Montemurro also recognised the impact of COVID-19 after his side’s draw in Berkshire, having had their previous game against Aston Villa postponed due to the virus.
Speaking about recent events, Montemurro stated “Some players weren’t prepared to play 90 minutes.
“We seem to be doing everything but worrying about football, it’s very tough, there’s a lot of distractions.
“We just wanted to get back to playing football.”
Montemurro went on to discuss January signing Anna Patten who had a ‘tough start’ playing against a strong Reading side. He commented by saying “She showed some good signs, we believe she’ll be a real important player for Arsenal.”
Moving onto next week, Montemurro is hoping for better preparation in the lead up to his side’s next fixture against West Ham United.
“They are a team that are tough to beat, who have been unlucky in games” said the Arsenal head coach.
“The league is very tough, you cannot let your guard down. Credit to all of the teams in the league.”
Joe Montemurro’s Arsenal side go up against 10th-placed West Ham United next Sunday at midday. He will be pleased to return to home comforts with Arsenal having struggled away from Meadow Park in recent games.
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