[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Good article on The Athletic about Emil Smith Rowe. Thought there was an interesting part (bolded) about - and praise for - his training, and then another bolded part (lower) questioning how ESR gets playing time while acknowledging Willock's involvement .[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Calls out that while Arsenal is really excited by him, he may find it hard to get game time this year if Arteta persists with a 3-4-3. I'd be curious if Arteta will work in and/or towards a 4-2-3-1 in cups or with youth teams? He could favor the 3-4-3 for our senior teams against top teams while phasing in a 4-2-3-1 for lesser competition. [/font][/size]
[size=small][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]3-4-3 [/font][/size]
[size=small][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]4-2-3-1 ------ Xhaka/Willock, Saka/ESR/Nelson, Nketiah[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Arsenal's Break Through Star -- Emil Smith Rowe[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]As the full-time whistle blew on Arsenal’s first pre-season friendly against MK Dons, assistant coach Albert Stuivenberg made a beeline towards Emile Smith Rowe. As the rest of the team headed down the tunnel, the Dutchman put his arm around the youngster and talked him through a series of tactical points.[/font][/size][size=small][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]The work with Smith Rowe did not end there. After the match, the Arsenal physios led him through a series of sprinting exercises. Considerable attention is being lavished on the 20-year-old. Arsenal do not single him out because he is underperforming. They do so because they believe he can be special.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]As things stand, Smith Rowe’s immediate future is not entirely clear. Back in July, head coach Mikel Arteta spoke of being “excited” at the prospect of working with the player after a successful loan spell in the Championship with Huddersfield Town. That public pronouncement was backed up by an internal assurance that he figured in plans for next season. With Arsenal suffering a dearth of creativity in midfield, Smith Rowe offered the possibility of an internal solution.
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[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Since then, the situation has clouded somewhat. The signing of Willian offers experienced competition. Smith Rowe was named as a substitute for the Community Shield against Liverpool, but did not get off the bench. Arteta’s current preference for a 3-4-3 system does not easily accommodate a player who is best as a No 10 or advanced No 8.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Smith Rowe’s priority remains breaking into the first-team picture at Arsenal. Clubs in the Premier League and Europe are following closely in case he becomes available for loan. This promises to be an important year in his development. In theory, his natural attributes offer precisely the sort of creative spark Arsenal have been lacking — the question now is whether Arsenal are ready to place their trust in his talent.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Many of Smith Rowe’s English contemporaries have already made their presence felt in Europe’s top leagues. He was born in 2000, the same year as Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho and Callum Hudson-Odoi. While they have made considerable impressions at Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea respectively, Smith Rowe has only made two Premier League appearances. [/font][/size][size=small][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Steve Cooper had all four players under his charge in England’s Under-17 World Cup-winning campaign of 2017. “We found a bit of rhythm with Sancho and Foden, and Hudson-Odoi playing behind the striker,” Cooper, now manager of Swansea City, tells [/font][/size][size=small][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]The Athletic[/font][/size][size=small][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]. “Emile played a lot but he didn’t always play. As a developer at heart, I knew this kid should be starting more games because he was a really top player.”
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[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Smith Rowe nevertheless played a significant part in England’s World Cup success. He scored in a group stage game against Iraq before coming off the bench to create a crucial goal for Rhian Brewster in the semi-final against Brazil.
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[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“Emile’s attitude to training was amazing, was brilliant,” says Cooper. “A defining moment for me in that World Cup was when we were preparing for the Brazil game. We already had a game plan in mind, but we just felt that they left gaps in between the left-back and the left centre-back, and that we could get at them there.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“So we worked on this move with Emile and the other boys who were training that day. It wasn’t the full group because we had just won the quarter-final the night before, but we knew that if Emile came on, he would come on in this right-sided position.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“I remember him training this move so well, he was 100 per cent with everything that he did. And he came on and the exact thing came off and he pulled it back for Brewster, who scored to make it 3-1 and it got us to the final. It was such a defining moment.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“Nobody will talk about it. But when you’re analysing things back, I thought, ‘That for me is a brilliant example of Emile’. He worked so hard in training, committed to the plan, and then he came on and delivered.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]That intelligent movement is partly what made Smith Rowe such an attractive signing for Huddersfield. The move in January 2020 was of critical importance. A year earlier, he joined RB Leipzig on loan, but made just three appearances for the German side. Although he was widely reported to be carrying an injury, Smith Rowe was suffering from growing pains — an issue that is now behind him.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“I knew Emile, the player, from my time at Tottenham,” explains former Huddersfield’s head of operations David Webb, who had previously been head of elite potential identification at Arsenal’s north London rivals. “He was one I was very interested in pursuing for Tottenham, but at the time, for various reasons, we couldn’t get it done.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“Myself and the Huddersfield manager at the time, Danny Cowley, had to go to Arsenal and do a presentation. We talked about the club, about how Emile would fit in.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]There was competition from other Championship clubs and two Bundesliga teams, but Smith Rowe and Arsenal were convinced by Huddersfield’s proposition. A key part of the pitch was their commitment to play Smith Rowe in central areas, either as a No 10 or a No 8.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“Emile was shy, quite introverted, but came alive once he stepped over the paint,” former Huddersfield boss Cowley tells The Athletic. “Ultra-talented. He could find space in a telephone box. Just very, very aware of his surroundings.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]What excites coaches most about Smith Rowe is that he’s as good off the ball as he is on it. “Something that he has naturally, which you have to coach into a lot of young players, is he is willing to run in behind,” says former England youth boss Cooper. “And he has that as a real natural habit.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“He makes good runs,” Cowley concurs. “He’ll make corner runs in behind the full-back — he’s willing to stretch the pitch. We always encouraged him to do that. We knew that if he did that in the early part of the game — made five or six aggressive runs in that first 15 to 20 minute — then he would give himself the space to receive the ball between the lines later in the game.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]When Smith Rowe gets on the ball, good things happen. “We just liked his ability to receive the ball behind opposing midfield players,” Cowley says. “He’d take it on the back foot, front face and drive, draw and commit defenders. His ability to turn defence into attack, to receive on the back foot and speed up play in almost one movement — it’s right at the top level.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Stepping down to the Championship brought its own challenges. Huddersfield were embroiled in a relegation battle, and the league is intensely physical. That appealed to Smith Rowe, who was keen to test himself in a different kind of football environment.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]It took a little time to build his fitness up. “We looked after him in terms of his minutes, really we played him Saturday to Saturday,” says Cowley. “By the end of the loan, he was able to cope with the three-game week, and perform at his level in all three games.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“He earned the respect of the Huddersfield players really quickly,” says Webb. “Not just because of his footballing talent, but because of his work rate and his application in training. He got tested in training because it’s physically quite tough, even with the Huddersfield lads, and he took that application into proper games. He knew that he was going to get kicked and pushed around a little bit and he just took all that in his stride. He didn’t whinge or shirk away. He embraced it, which was a testament to him. That can make or break young players.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Smith Rowe made 19 appearances in the Championship, scoring twice — including a goal against West Bromwich Albion that helped save Huddersfield from relegation, and saw Leeds United promoted to the Premier League. His industry and ability won him many new fans — and those who worked with him believe he will get better still. “The next bit for him is the consistency in the end product,” says Cowley. “He’s got the quality, without a doubt. You see it in training time and time again.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Arteta and his staff maintained contact with Smith Rowe during his loan. The player briefly worked with the manager while he was undertaking his coaching badges a few years ago. On paper, he looks an ideal Arteta player: technically gifted and brave on the ball.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]The question is how and where he fits into the current set-up. In a squad in which a youngster like Joe Willock made 44 appearances last season, there is surely room for some game time to be allocated to Smith Rowe.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]The issue is that the back three formation does not create obvious opportunities for an advanced central midfielder. Smith Rowe came on as a right winger against MK Dons, but it is not his preference. Arteta’s tactical plan may have to enter the next stage of its evolution before Smith Rowe gets to play in his best position.[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]In the meantime, he has the natural game intelligence to be an effective substitute — he proved that at under-17s level. “No matter how the game’s going, when he came, on he would always make the game better,” says Cooper. “And that was because he is full of energy, he is full of variety.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]“His intelligence — not only on the ball but off the ball, the way he moves — is Premier League level,” says Webb. “He moves like a Premier League player because he’s very clever at finding spaces, making those third-man runs beyond the striker to get into really dangerous positions. Technically, he is Premier League standard and the fact he’s been up to Huddersfield and been in a bit of a war shows his character.”[/font][/size]
[size=medium][font=adobe-caslon-pro, serif]Few people doubt the talent. The question people ask regarding Smith Rowe is not ‘if’ we will see him figure in the Arsenal first team. The question is, ‘When?’[/font][/size]
