While this is true, and I kind of hope she does go back to three quads for bigger competitions this year (no matter how gorgeous her 4S is when she lands it

), Sasha has proved me wrong in the past. I remember at her first Junior Worlds, I saw the planned content of two quads and I thought she and her coaches must be crazy to put two in before she had landed a clean one internationally. And then of course, she landed them both and set all of those records and made history. She could've easily won the competition with one quad, but that was not the course she took. Last season, she probably could've gone cleaner in a lot more comps if she'd just gone for a one or two quad layout. But by practicing the three quad layout in a lot of junior competitions, she got it down for her senior ones. The same thing applies now; three clean quads will win her any comp, but maybe she's practicing getting the 4 quad layout down for the Olympic season. You don't want to be experimenting with anything then - and who knows how many quads Kamila, Alysa, Anna, Rika, etc. will be doing by then. Sasha and her team are playing the long game.
That being said, 3 quads will win her every competition this season if she does them cleanly, and so far the 4lz and 4ts have been great. She has to find the right balance of preparing for the future and winning now. If she has two falls like she did today, the scores say that a clean Alyona would win (don't get me wrong I wouldn't mind her winning though, I just wish there were a way for them to all simultaneously win). And thats using the scores from stingy GP of France. Alyona has shown that she can score a 160, and has the potential to score into the 80s for a short program. If Alyona is clean, Trusova will have to be on her A game to win. Thats why I hope she goes back to the 3 quad layout at least for Worlds and maybe GPF. Then maybe use RusNats and Euros to practice the harder 4 quad layout at.