Sky Sports columnist Laura Hunter breaks down the big talking points from the latest Women’s Super League fixtures and explores the key stories at the heart of the women’s game.
Analyzing Russo’s role at Arsenal
Renee Sleggers has a problem. Alessia Russo is just too good.
Normally, having such a versatile player can only be seen as a positive. There is no doubt that Russo’s quality will add great life to Arsenal’s attack, no matter how configured. But where can she actually be of most use to the Sledgers?
She’s in the pocket number 10 and plays with her back to the goal more often, but can she receive between the lines and create a consistent overload? Or as a more traditional No. 9, using clever movement and running to invade spaces at the back?
If you look at the heatmap below, you can see how this duality actually keeps Russo away from the most dangerous penalty box zone. Still, there are very few players who can play both positions equally well. Russo is rare in that respect. Slagers has every right to explore its unique luxury benefits.
But this season has also disrupted the tactical blueprint. It wasn’t until recently that Arsenal showed such fluency and threat in the final third. It took two-thirds of the season to figure out the formula for such sustained offensive success.
Russo’s form obviously plays a role as well. It’s no coincidence that Arsenal’s peak coincided with the England international’s most complete performances since arriving in north London in 2023. Last week alone, Arsenal scored 13 goals. Russo scored five goals.
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Women’s Super League highlights of Arsenal vs. West Ham United
For the entire month of March, 40 per cent of Arsenal’s total goals were scored or assisted by her. In games of a war of attrition nature, her ability to lead and adjust the press proved to be another effective means of giving her team an advantage.
So does it really matter where she plays?
Comparing Russo’s role in the win over West Ham to his role against Spurs at the weekend (Arsenal scored five goals in both) provides some interesting insight.
When Russo operates as a number 10, in recent games against the Hammers he has tended to drift wide to the left, bouncing back short, sharp passes and being used to unsettle opposition defenders. Chloe Kelly in particular took advantage of the chaos caused and the gap it created to thrive, scoring three goals in a resounding 5-0 win.
As a result, Russo arrives much later in the box, meaning he is often only present in the second phase rather than the first. It does mean she has less space to be effective in her most dominant zone and puts more emphasis on the decision-making ability of the players around her, but there is value in this as well.
This is in contrast to her hat-trick against Spurs, where Arsenal took advantage of the visitors’ unusually high line and played longer. Russo served as a focal point to ensure that nearly all passes received fell between the width of the box with the intention of directly generating goal-scoring action. She scored twice within the first seven minutes and hit a triple within 27 minutes. He became the first player to score three goals in a game since Vivian Miedema in 2020.
The chart below shows the frequency and location of Russo’s shots from the number 10 position and out-and-out forwards since the beginning of the year. You can see that the output on the right side is increasing.
The main difference between her and strike partner Stina Blackstenius is her conversion on big chances, primarily when Russo drops deep. According to Opta, the pair have created 13 big chances each this season, with Russo converting seven to his teammate’s three. Incidentally, Russo is also Arsenal’s second most effective chance creator.
Perhaps because of the latter, there is a temptation to use the 27-year-old for something, but by default she is not. This is why Russo’s adaptability is as much of an issue as it is an option for the Sleggers. The Dutchwoman regularly speaks of her admiration for Russo’s “football intelligence.” Why categorize a player who can essentially do it all?
But if Saturday’s Spurs game taught us anything, it’s that Russo is at his ruthless best when he’s the centerpiece. She deserves to star in as many games as the process allows, even if she humbly declares after the game that she can play anywhere.
Obviously, certain tactical settings require something different, but there are few who wouldn’t benefit from Russo at the center of things. That theory will be put to the test again this week as Arsenal aim to reach the Champions League and FA Cup semi-finals against Chelsea and Brighton respectively.
It will certainly be very interesting to see how Sledgers chooses to use her number 23 to cause maximum devastation in two separate competitions. It could even decide Arsenal’s season.
Read last week’s column
Last week’s column analyzed another outstanding performance from WSL leading scorer Bunny Shaw.
