Matildas coach Joe Montemurro set to blood more players for four games across 10 days in Perth

Two games into his stint as Matildas coach, Joe Montemurro’s team has scored four goals and he’s unleashed some new faces with more to come.

Michelle Heyman celebrates with teammates after scoring the Matildas’ first goal. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Matildas coach Joe Montemurro concedes it’s going to take “a while” for players to fully adapt to the changes he’s trying to implement and he will expose more of his squad in two upcoming clashes against Panama, happy with the improvement he saw in both clashes against Slovenia.

The Matildas followed a 3-0 win in Montemurro’s opening game in charge with a 1-1 draw, having been forced to make six changes for the second outing in Perth due to “load and fatigue”.

With four games being played across just 10 days, including the first clash with Panama on Tuesday night, Montemurro inserted six new faces into the starting line-up for Sunday’s game.

Both goals were scored in the second half, including Slovenia’s 91st minute equaliser that left Montemurro disappointed but far from upset having only had a week to get his new squad ready to play his way.

“The results should have been the other way, the other day probably should have been 1-1 and tonight should have been a little bit more,” Montemurro said post-game.

“We were a lot better, and the belief is coming. I’m very happy with the performance.

Ellie Carpenter in action against Slovenia. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“Some of the attacking movement was stuff that I wasn’t expecting tonight, to be honest. We’re ahead of head of schedule in terms of where we need to be with breaking lines and going forward.

“There’s still a lot of work to do. There was a lot of prescribed changes we had to make, we had to make six changes because of players’ load and fatigue.”

The Matildas are playing without a host of key players, including Sam Kerr, Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord, with Mary Fowler also out injured after suffering an ACL injury.

Her availability for next year’s Asian Cup, which Montemurro is preparing the players for, remains unclear.

But the coach said his team was and would continue to be a work in progress, with two more games against Panama this week crucial to keep building towards their goal.

“It’ll take a while,” he explained.

“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.”

Originally published as Matildas coach Joe Montemurro set to blood more players for four games across 10 days in Perth