Rachel Daly is a goal machine - Sarina Wiegman must find her a permanent attacking role: England Women's winners & losers as Lionesses make mixed start to Nations League campaign

When Wiegman made it known that Alessia Russo would be rested for England's first game in this international break, it gave Rachel Daly a huge opportunity to impress. The Aston Villa star is still struggling to get game time as a No.9 for her country, but that is where she started against Scotland and she played well, unlucky to have a goal ruled out for a controversial offside before creating the Lionesses' second of the night with a brilliant assist.

However, in the second half of that win, she was moved back into the wing-back role she occupied for most of the World Cup and it limited her offensive threat. It was something of a surprise, too, because Daly and Russo are England's only centre-forward options in this squad while Bethany England recovers from surgery. If Daly was going to play 90 minutes, why not make them all as a No.9 and bring one of the versatile defenders off the bench to play at wing-back?

Four days later, Daly started in that wing-back role against the Netherlands as Russo took her place up front and she was picked apart by the lively Victoria Pelova, who ran rings around her as the Dutch went on to win the game. Indeed, Daly was booked for bringing the Arsenal star down and taken off at half-time as England changed shape.

Wiegman is still struggling to get the best out of last season's Women's Super League Player of the Year and Golden Boot winner, and it's not only a hindrance to the player but also to the Lionesses, who would certainly be better if a goalscorer like Daly could be integrated effectively into the team.

Out-scored by both Daly and England last season, Russo's form has been a hot topic of discussion for some time now, but the signs going into the new season are good for her, the Lionesses and Arsenal, who she has joined after leaving Manchester United this summer.

Yes, she missed a penalty in the Gunners' decisive Champions League shootout with Paris FC earlier this month, but she also netted twice in that match from the bench, and she got another goal on international duty this week, too, with her strike against the Netherlands a wonderful finish.

Wiegman's decision to rest Russo for England's first match was a wise one and hopefully she will reap the rewards of the week away with her country, having had a little bit of time to recover and got on the scoresheet before Arsenal's WSL campaign starts on Sunday.

It's clear that she is still the first choice centre forward for the Lionesses, too.

One of the biggest questions going into this international window was about the formation that England would use. Wiegman has long set the Lionesses up in a 4-3-3 system, but she changed to a 3-5-2 during the World Cup and it helped the team reach the final.

Indeed, it was the latter that the coach opted for in these September games and that meant the second fixture, against the Netherlands, was going to be a big one. The Dutch are well-versed in three-at-the-back systems and so would be the toughest test of Wiegman's new set-up to date - too tough a test, it turned out.

With wing-backs Pelova and Esmee Brugts causing tons of problems for England in the first half, the World Cup runners-up came out for the second period in a 4-3-3. It's clear that there's still a fair bit of fine-tuning for Wiegman and her team to do if the Lionesses want to improve in the 3-5-2.

England might not have kept a clean sheet in these two games, but goalkeeper Mary Earps certainly did her reputation as one of the best in the world in her position no harm. The Manchester United shot-stopper spoke openly this month about the struggles she'd endured while having her body language and facial impressions scrutinised amid transfer interest from Arsenal, but it was clear from her performances for the Lionesses that even that hasn't distracted her from putting in top performances.

A fantastic save to deny Caroline Weir in the win over Scotland caught the eye and Earps made a couple of great saves in the defeat to the Netherlands, too, most notably a low stop to thwart Pelova.

With the new WSL season starting on Sunday, United will be encouraged to see that their No.1 is laser-focused despite finding the attention on her difficult as of late.

Towards the end of England's historic World Cup campaign, eyebrows were raised at what seemed to be reluctance from Wiegman to turn to those players on the bench to change a game. So often it felt like matches were crying out for a tweak here, some fresh legs there or the particular skillset of a player among the substitutes - but the coach regularly stuck with the 11 on the pitch to get the job done.

Admittedly, it worked most of the time. After all, the Lionesses reached the World Cup final. But questions around Wiegman's in-game management came up again in the past week.

Against Scotland, instead of turning to the plethora of versatile wide and defensive players on her bench to play at left wing-back in the second half, following Chloe Kelly's ineffectiveness in an unnatural role, the Dutchwoman moved Daly back there from the attack and England lost a lot of their offensive threat as a result.

In the game with the Netherlands, Wiegman made the right call in switching formations at half-time, but the Lionesses' midfield was incredibly anonymous in both systems, and yet the coach left it untouched as England's poor performance dramatically ended in defeat in Utrecht.

Unless you are a player really on the fringes of the starting XI, like Ella Toone or Lauren James, it is incredibly difficult to get minutes as a substitute for England at the moment.

How many people predicted that Belgium would be sitting at the top of this Women's Nations League group after the first two rounds of games? Not many, if any.

Though a highly-rated international team on the men's side, the women's team are yet to really hit those heights, even if there are a lot of promising signs for their future. The Red Flames reached the quarter-finals of the Euros for the first time last summer and have an exciting young generation coming through.

Still, this is a team England beat 6-1 in a convincing and one-sided affair in February. They've never qualified for a Women's World Cup and nine players in their September squad still play in Belgium, which does not have a professional league.

It was a huge achievement, then, for them to come out and beat the Netherlands in their first game in this competition, a result they followed up with a point away at Scotland on Tuesday night.

Ives Serneels' side have a double-header against England in October which will be a big test given the defeat they suffered to the Lionesses earlier this year. But they know that Wiegman's side are beatable and they go into the games in a very healthy position, at the top of the table in Group 1 in League A.

When England's team for Tuesday's clash with the Netherlands was announced, Jordan Nobbs' name was missing from the teamsheet. The Lionesses named a 24-player squad for this international window, but only 23 can be named to a matchday squad and on this occasion, Nobbs was the one to miss out.

The Aston Villa midfielder has been a regular in Wiegman's squads throughout 2023 but her minutes have been anything but. In fact, Nobbs has played just 44 minutes for her country this year despite being among the substitutes for 12 matches. At the World Cup, she didn't get on the pitch.

Given how much the game passed England's midfield by on Tuesday, it put her omission from the squad even further under the microscope. Nobbs is one of the Lionesses' most naturally talented footballers and she's been in excellent form since joining Villa in January. What more does she need to do to get a look in?