Interview

What a training week in lockdown looks like

The coronavirus pandemic has brought life to a standstill - but football training is continuing from home. 

Without access to London Colney, Joe Montemurro and his backroom staff have been working harder than ever to provide our players with the appropriate resources to train remotely. 

“We’re mainly on the physical aspect right now, so a lot of them are keeping to their individual physical parameters,” our head coach told Arsenal Player.

“The general consensus is that football is something that as players and staff, we’ll slowly integrate over the next couple of weeks. We’re starting to do a little bit of match review and individual review just on our methodology, our style and where we can improve, but right now it’s more on the individual scenario.

“Monday is usually a staff and player meeting, then we’re also doing regular check ins and I’m also checking in with each group once a week too. We’re very much on the conditioning base right now, but the most important thing is their well-being, mental health and the follow up to make sure that players who are alone and away from their families are getting the support that they need. The club has been fantastic as a whole. 

“Like most organisations, they’ve all been given individual programmes, but in all honesty we’ve had a tough two and a half years. A lot of our players have come out of Euros, World Cups and winning the title last year, so it’s been a tough two and a half years for a lot of these players. We’re quite happy for them to do their programmes and keep their individual fitness going, but also to take this time to refresh, relax and recalibrate, which I think is even more important in this stage.

“It’s a great opportunity to do that and it’s a great opportunity for us to be creative in this environment. It’s a balance of that but also individual programmes because we have some players coming back from rehab from injuries and so on, so they’ve taken this time to really get right. All in all, it’s been positive.