Arsenal Women: Stepping into the void

Arsenal Women: Stepping into the void

 

Alessia Russo captained the team against Everton on Wednesday night for the first time in her Arsenal career. Kim Little and Leah Williamson were on the bench and Steph Catley was not available. Most of us were expecting Lotte Wubben-Moy to wear the captain’s armband as she had against Manchester United in the Subway Cup in January.

Instead, Russo led the team out. Arseblog News asked Renee Slegers about this after the game. ‘Lotte and Less were the captains on the pitch, and I had a chat with them yesterday and I said it was a good moment for Alessia to wear the armband, because it’s all shared responsibility. It’s just formality, but also the knowledge, the way she’s grown and how she’s been stepping up for the team.’

On a night where Arsenal said goodbye to some big players and some big leaders, I felt Russo wearing the armband was significant and the signalling of a new era of Arsenal leadership. Lotte Wubben-Moy came into the leadership group after signing a new contract last April. In November, Renee Slegers said this of the leadership group in response to a question from Arseblog News about Steph Catley taking the armband ahead of Katie McCabe.

‘We have two captains, and that’s Kim Little and Leah Williamson. And then we have supporting captains, and that’s Steph Catley, Katie McCabe and Lotte Wubben-Moy. So those are the players in the captaincy group, and someone will wear the armband, and it’s a formality, but it’s an important role to play, of course, on the pitch.’

Somewhere between November and May, Russo replaced McCabe as part of the leadership group. Catley had been wearing the armband ahead of McCabe in any case. McCabe started the Subway Cup game against United but Wubben-Moy wore the armband ahead of her. For what it is worth, it was indicated to me last summer that McCabe may come out of the leadership group.

Whatever the exact timeline, I think Slegers’ machinations in the group tell you something about her preferred style of leadership. Catley, Wubben-Moy and now Russo have all come into the supporting captains role behind Little and Williamson. I think there is something in there about a quiet, understated type of leader with strong rolemodelling skills that Slegers likes.

Little, at the top of the leadership hierarchy, exemplifies this of course. Slegers spoke recently about what Arsenal are going to miss, in leadership terms, with the departures of Beth Mead and Katie McCabe. ‘They are both very vocal and create energy when it is needed, they speak up when it is needed, so that is something we will miss- their energy, their presence and also their football intelligence.’

However, she has talked in recent games about other players growing into more senior roles in the group dynamic. ‘I am expecting other players in the squad to step up even more, there are new players coming in who will bring quality too so I am really excited about how all that is going to gel together.’ Players like Georgia Stanway, Ona Batlle and Geraldine Reuteler are all experienced 27-year-olds with experience of major finals and playing leadership roles for big footballing nations.

I also think each player fits that slightly undemonstrative style of leadership Slegers seems to favour. Prior to the Liverpool game, she also spoke about this being an opportunity for other players to feel empowered to assume greater responsibility. ‘The way it works with group group dynamics as soon as you change one person, the group changes.

‘It will be interesting to see how the dynamics will be next year. It also sometimes gives opportunities to other players to develop further and take new steps and and take new positions.’ I think Russo is certainly one of those players and it is so obvious that she has gone to a new level this season and that she is a reference point the equivalent of Mariona or Leah Williamson.

She gives the team a big part of its identity, she is 27 and has committed to the club via a new contract. I suspect giving Russo the armband against Everton was partially an acknowledgement of how much she has stepped up this season but also an encouragement to continue to take more responsibility in the group dynamic.

The club want to extend Emily Fox’s contract and assuming they are successful in that endeavour, I think the same will be true of her too. Fox is another quiet, understated leader who is super consistent and a model professional. (This also harks back to something I wrote last summer about a new, emerging leadership core). In Pelova, Codina, Zinsberger, McCabe and Mead, Arsenal are losing a lot of dressing room personality and a lot of extroversion.

Every group needs a good mixture of extroversion and introversion and different leadership styles; but I think it’s clear that Slegers leans more towards or a more unassuming model. But she has also talked about players stepping up next season and I suspect that is an invitation for some of the emerging leaders in the group (as well as some new incoming players) to step into the void left by some big players and personalities.

Irrespective of the armband, Alessia Russo is the leader, inspirer and powerhouse of the team. She’d be all those even if she was last out of the tunnel.