Wasteful Alessia Russo's grip on her Lionesses starting role is starting to weaken: Winners & losers as Sarina Wiegman ponders England's precarious Nations League & Olympic position after shock defeat to Belgium

Alessia Russo is a fantastic footballer, there's no doubt about that, and she has come up with some extremely big goals for her country this year alone, but it's difficult to overlook her lack of clinical touch during this October window.

No player had more shots across these two games than the Arsenal forward, but somehow she just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net, with two huge chances in particular going begging in England's crucial defeat to Belgium on Tuesday.

The difficult position the Lionesses find themselves in is not on Russo, let's make that clear. After all, they still managed to win Friday's game and it was the goals conceded in the second fixture against the Red Flames that really cost them, with all three extremely poor in their own way.

But Wiegman has stressed the importance of being more clinical throughout this past week and Russo was one of those most culpable over these two games in that sense. If she catches fire for Arsenal between now and that do-or-die clash with the Netherlands in December, she may still retain her status as the focal point of England's attack, but if not, Wiegman will surely be thinking about whether Rachel Daly deserves a chance to start.

A whole 381 days after her last appearance for her country, Fran Kirby made her long-awaited England return during this October camp, with the sight of her entering the game in Leicester on Friday night a welcome one for any football fan.

Kirby is one of the Lionesses' most talented stars, with her creativity and eye for goal marking her out as a nightmare for defenders all over the globe for several years now. But injuries plagued her 2022-23 season and sadly ruled her out of the Women's World Cup in the summer, too.

She's back now, though, and she provides England with a huge boost with her world-class quality. That much was abundantly clear as she scored her first goal in eight months in the Lionesses' defeat to Belgium on Tuesday.

The result didn't go her team's way, but Kirby certainly showed what she can bring to the table with a fantastic strike that will have meant so much.

Perhaps England should have known things weren't going to go their way on Tuesday when, early in the first half, Alex Greenwood spent 13 minutes receiving medical attention before being stretchered off following a nasty clash of heads with Belgium's Jassina Blom. To lose a player who has been one of their absolute best over the past 12 months was a big blow, and it was relieving to hear that the Manchester City star was conscious and talking as soon as the half-time interval.

Club and country will hope that the injury is not as serious as it appeared, such is Greenwood's importance to both, and that will apply to the player herself, too, who is enjoying the best form of her career at the moment.

As the quicker of England's centre-back options, the Lionesses certainly suffered without Greenwood for the remainder of the game, with Belgium able to slice them open on the counter as a result of the comparative lack of pace of Millie Bright and Jess Carter, most notably when scoring their second goal of the night.

It's fair to say that Wiegman has a few problems to solve before England welcome the Netherlands, her home country, to Wembley on December 1, then. The Lionesses simply must win that fixture or not only are their chances of winning the UEFA Women's Nations League title over - their hopes of securing qualification to the Olympic football tournament for Great Britain are too.

Inevitably, questions have been asked about the formation off the back of these two games, in which England started in a 4-3-3 for the first time since the World Cup group stages. Would it be more beneficial to return to the 3-5-2 that got them to that tournament's final instead? Would a back three have been exposed in this same way on the counter? Would the 3-5-2 system have got more bodies in the box to put chances away? What formation will be best against a Netherlands side that excels with a three-player defence? These are questions that Wiegman will spend the next month thinking about.

The Dutchwoman asserted herself as the best coach in the world with her tweaks during the World Cup and that top-level decision-making will be needed again to rescue England from a situation that seemed unthinkable off the back of such an incredible month in Australia.

One possible reason to stick with the 4-3-3 is Chloe Kelly. She has started the new season in electric form for Man City, a team she's able to shine in because of her wonderful talent, of course, but also because its 4-3-3 set-up allows her to wreak havoc as a dynamic winger. For the first time in a while, she got the chance to do that with England in October, too.

Kelly started both of the Lionesses' first two games at the World Cup in the summer, but the reigning European champions never looked that threatening in an attacking sense, and in a bid to solve that, and some other issues, Wiegman switched systems.

But England struggled in that shape in a 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands in September, so much so that Wiegman changed to 4-3-3 at half-time. For these games against Belgium, the latter formation was kept, and in it, Kelly was one of her country's best performers. Having started as a wing-back in last month's Nations League opener, the Man City star took full advantage of the greater attacking freedom she got in this camp and proved why she deserves to be a regular starter for the Lionesses.

Profiting at the expense of their former coach's struggles, the Netherlands are now two points clear at the top of this Nations League group and are in pole position to reach the tournament's finals. The Oranje made light work of Scotland in Nijmegen last week before yet another long range strike from 20-year-old starlet Esmee Brugts secured a narrow win at Hampden Park on Tuesday.

European champions in 2017 and World Cup finalists in 2019 under Wiegman's charge, the Netherlands have struggled since the 54-year-old opted for a new challenge in late 2021. However, they impressed under Andries Jonker during this year's World Cup, only losing to eventual champions Spain in extra-time in their quarter-final clash, and have built on that in the time since.

There were concerns about whether Jonker had what it takes to get this team back to the top level, and those haven't completely gone away yet, but he appears to have found a winning formula, with one of its most prominent features the two extremely attacking and exciting wing-backs that opponents are struggling to contain.

With Vivianne Miedema making her way back to full fitness now as well, the Dutch may only get stronger from here on out. That's not a bad position to be in at all when you're already top of the group.

While events on the pitch certainly grabbed the attention when it comes to England this week, Monday's Ballon d'Or ceremony, at which Aitana Bonmati was crowned the women's winner, needs a mention, too. Fortunately, the Barcelona star was able to pick up her award in person and enjoy her deserved moment in the spotlight, but she was one of only eight of the 30 nominees that attended because of the inconvenience of the event being held during a women's international break.

Bonmati was in action for her country in Switzerland less than 24 hours after being recognised as the best female footballer on the planet, as were many more of the names put forward for the accolade.

"It's unfortunate that we couldn't be there," Georgia Stanway, one of four nominees from the England squad, said on Monday during the Lionesses' pre-match press conference. "We spoke about it as a group and said it would be nice in the future if the ceremony wasn't on a matchday minus one day so we can all enjoy the experience.

"[It is frustrating] because it's a potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You never know if you'll get selected for such an accolade like that again. It would be nice to enjoy the experience and be there. You want to feel like a star among the stars. We've got a game tomorrow, but if it was planned a little better then it would be easier for a lot of female footballers to be there."

It wasn't the only faux pas on Monday. Between musician Rema awkwardly ignoring the women's nominees during his performance, only shaking the hands of the men's players sat either side of them, and the choice of Novak Djokovic to present Bonmati with her award, rather than literally anyone from women's football, France Football didn't cover itself in glory this week.