Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall admits that his team needs to work more to get Alessia Russo into goal scoring positions. Russo has four goals since joining the club from Manchester United in the summer, though she is very renowned for her work linking play outside the area.
Eidevall said it’s a priority to get her into more goal scoring positions.‘It is always a big step when you move to a new club and there are far more things than just on the pitch, you need to settle all the things in your life, the area, your house.
‘Alessia works so hard and she is such a great individual and team player. Do we have room for improvement in how we involve her more, especially in the penalty area and how we get her more touches and shooting opportunities in there? Absolutely.
‘Especially when she plays as a 9, that has to be the aim when she plays there so we can get her more goals because from a finishing perspective, she is probably the best finisher I have ever worked with.
‘She has a lot of variety in her finishing and for us, it’s how many times she can get those opportunities rather than what she is doing with them. Those are things we are working with, with her application and her effort, it is amazing.’
Currently, Stina Blackstenius is Arsenal’s top scorer this season and her qualities, both from the bench and when starting games, has given Arsenal different dimensions in attack and has led to greater goal scoring productivity from the Swede, even though her minutes have reduced.
‘Stina has been really strong from a mental perspective and she makes the absolute most out of every minute she gets, whether that is starting or finishing the game,’ Eidevall told Arseblog News.
‘That is such an important trait to have, especially nowadays in women’s football with more competitive squads. That gives you more options if you are good at starting and finishing games, you can help the team in more ways.
‘She focuses on what she can control, which is the minutes she is selected to play and that is always the most beneficial way. She has been doing that really, really well so far this season.’
Russo runs her socks off for the team but even she would admit that she should score more goals. It may be as it is with the Lionesses where Daly gets better service from others than Russo. Maybe the same is true of Blackstenius but they are different number nines. It goes back to when we had Alan Smith who did so much more for the team than score goals but the man got so much flack for his lack of goals, unfairly in my view. We just need to strike a happy balance and on balance I am happy… Read more »
She will come good but it might take this season to settle in. Katie, Meado and even Viv didn’t hit the ground running but you wouldn’t throw them out of the squad now!
Interesting that JE says Russo is probably the best finisher he has worked with, I would have thought that would be Viv.
Depends what your assessment criteria are. Viv, despite her scoring record, misses out on a lot of chances because she tends not to hit the ball first time. This gives defenders an opportunity to get a foot in and make the block. Lessi, maybe converts a higher percentage of her chances into goals because she is more direct and will shoot on sight. Perhaps one of our resident statisticians can look it up? Horses for courses, I’m just pleased they both wear red and white with a cannon badge as we need goals from everywhere. Gone are the days when… Read more »
Anyone like me that watched her in person fir three years at UNC knows she’s a threat from at least 25 out to finish any time the ball is at her feet.
Thing is Russo has an impact whether she’s scoring or not, look at the goal she made for Beth on Sunday! All credit to Stina, bless her she must have felt awful to hear she was being touted as a swap for Russo. Im glad that didn’t happen. She obviously decided to work hard and prove herself…. She’s done that alright