Both England and Arsenal worked on getting Russo into goal-scoring positions on a more regular basis. Her underlying numbers improved as a result and, as Eidevall predicted, her goals increased along the way. After netting 16 in all club competitions in the 2023-24 campaign, Russo got 20 last year and is currently on 19 this term, set to improve her tally for a fifth season in a row when also taking into account her United days.
And while Eidevall was adamant that her finishing was always fantastic, there is clear improvement in that, too. Perhaps some of it is in Russo's composure in front of goal, which has benefitted from the regularity in which she finds herself in those positions, but it was hard not to watch Russo's sweet finish against Chelsea last week and not think she's also taken strides in that department, even if it wasn't the key area that needed addressing.
"She’s one of the best finishers I’ve seen," Renee Slegers, Arsenal's current head coach, and assistant to Eidevall during his tenure, said at the weekend.
"I think in games, what you see now is that when she gets to the right spaces with the right timing, she has so much conviction in what she's doing and I think that's what's taken her to another level," Slegers had said a few days earlier, after the win over Chelsea. "She was already at the highest level, almost, but she's just winning those small margins at the moment."