Arsenal starlet Emile Smith-Rowe’s introduction to the 1st team in mid December – after struggling with multiple injuries and requiring significant ramp up time following a moderate severity shoulder injury – was arguably the inflection point of the team’s season. The player’s unique skillset filled a vital yet glaring creativity and positional awareness hole in the middle of the pitch and as the season went on, manager Mikel Arteta harnessed those abilities in multiple channels – not quite to the extent of fellow Hale End starlet Bukayo Saka but still quite remarkable
Smith-Rowe’s quality and skill – both physically and mentally – jump off the screen at you from the moment he takes his first touch, sist down into the half channel to create a passing angle, or astutely angles his press to cut out an attack. Numerous building blocks underlie those actions, one of which is Emile’s incredible balance.
Lets go through some examples:
Smith-Rowe is able to take on and dribble through challenges by maintaining his balance through contact and quickly re-orienting himself like nothing even happened.
Here he anticipates the challenge and pushes the ball past the defender but still takes some contact:
He’s able to maintain his balance while keeping eyes on the ball and the defender is left in his wake:
And then he’s back to his normal running gait and off to the races.
I hinted at this above but part of what makes Smith-Rowe an effective player – and a key reason Arteta rates him so highly – is because of his willingness to do the dirty work and win back the ball or win 50/50 balls. Here’s an example as he’s engaged in midfield duel:
He shields the opponent off the ball and is able to maintain complete balance while being leveraged:
The end result is the opponent completely unrooted and getting dropped to the ground while Smith-Rowe wins the 50/50 challenge and takes his spoils:
This is another example of Smith-Rowe shielding opponents from the ball and showcasing his elite balance. He’s able to shield, turn, and get his first touch on the ball while balance on only one leg, while his left arm is being pulled to boot:
He maintains his balance and then is able to take a second touch to navigate away from the 2nd defender (this is still all on his left leg, mind you):
He touches down with his right leg to establish dual-leg balance and immediately gets the ball out with an outside of the foot touch (just a ridiculous sequence):
Last but certainly not least is how Emile uses balance to destabilize and undress defenders when he’s in the mood to run at them. Here he’s 1v1 on the wing:
He smoothly shifts his body weight to the right, hesitates, and then breaks to the end-line – never losing any momentum to beat the defender and create a passing channel:
The job isn’t done yet and Smith-Rowe maintains his composure to pick out a perfectly weighted ball to Saka. This isn’t an easy pass by any means because – and this is clearer on video – Smith-Rowe is moving at pace and yet he’s able to maintain body control and touch on this pass. Both of which are aided by his body balance.
And young Bukayo does the rest:
These are obviously only four examples but they highlight an array of different situations in which Emile’s balance is a fundamental ingredient that unlocks his skillset, technique, and impact on this Arsenal team. I can’t wait to see more.
Fin. COYG.
Dr Rajpal Brar, DPT, (@3cbperformance) is a physiotherapist, movement expert, fitness trainer, sports scientist and mindfulness coach. He runs the LA and online based wellness and athletic performance clinic 3CB Performance, is an avid Gooner since 1995, and you can subscribe to his Youtube channel (which posts a variety of Gunners’ related content).