The Boy Who Couldn't Stand Still
And there it is. Emile Smith Rowe’s TIME is up. The Son has left and found a new home. The architect in the resurrection of Mikel has gone on to pastures new. Did Pep actually sell ESR to Fulham? Of course not, it’s not only inconceivable but also incredibly unnecessary, if he had such dystopian power to pull such levers, im sure the names of Saliba, Odegaard, Saka & Declan Rice would ring from his lips to sanction a sale that disarms his rivals, rather than, Mr: Smith Rowe…
But what cannot be understated, in this fantasy world I’ll begin to break down for you is; that Pep & Arteta are inextricably linked in almost every move they make, that this sale, this specific sale of Smith Rowe: speaks to their fundamental shared idea of Rhythm & Time that is a MUST within their team & all there players & If it is not there. Hasta Luego
To make this grand fantasy world less fantastical, let me unfold the true reason why Emile Smith Rowe does not play for Arsenal anymore: pull out your smokes, open up a cold one, sit back, light up the fire & come walk with me…
WHY PEPS WORDS SPEAK TO ARTETAS PRINCIPLES
How Arteta and Pep are Linked?
Mikel & Pep are both Basque boys, in 1997 Pep was an academy graduate whereas Pep was an established first-team Player for Barcelona. They came through La Masia and learned the Barcelona way. Artetas & Pep’s careers subsequently diverted to different travails with Mikel especially spending most of his playing career in Scotland and England, they reconvened at Man City with Pep’s manager & Mikel’s Assistant Coach. As coaches of the two best sides in England, many overlaps seem to follow the Pep First Arteta Second Pattern. Ederson Long Balls is a big reason Raya was signed. Inverted FBs, The Positional Play and switch to one side for the 1v1 is a Pep tactic nicked, From False 9s to Real 9s (Havertz & Haaland) and to now this year using 4CBS in a back for (Califori Signing)
So What Is the Preferred Midfielder Attacking Midfielder Profile Arteta and Pep Like?
Getting more granular, beyond the use of ideas, the makeup of the players is similarly striking. Very big tall players with the little guys with tremendous defensive aptitude and work ethic. Multi-functional players who play varying roles and a clear 15 players who all ‘work’ in the system.
So What is so good about their players having this gene, vs what ESR does? What is the net benefit? Does being calm allow for more pictures, less tension in the game, calculated instead of rushing, arriving together vs attacking alone?
As many similarities as there are between all the midfielders bought for both teams by their managers, one of the essential ingredients for each of them is they can be players of harmony, control and conduits of the manager’s game, they play within the system and are perfect cogs in the grand plan. Rodri, Jorginho, Odegaard, Bernando Silva. They understand moments, play at the right time and prioritise arriving at the end of an attack together not alone. A religious devotion to the Bible both managers write. A hand is placed on each shoulder, words whispered into the ear. Outside of what the world sees with the obligatory handshake, deep in the office corridors that are only lighted by candles and cornered by the highest ranking of the club, there’s a chapel of confirmation where signings pledge to be shrouded and live as a newborn, born to be a lord to the way of Mikel. Prerequisite questioning – Where a half-seen face encroaches from behind asking “ Can you be at peace, calm when required, subservient to the schemata?
Who was a Premier League Player who had it in abundance?
David Silva. A veteran of the half-space, pockets player, collective tempo raiser and attacking initiator, such crucial judgement, patience and potency juggled in two hands in between his delicate glides waiting out the defence’s resilience until they creek open a gap.
TIME: PART ONE
“ His actions from 16/17 were so so quick, you remember Silva, he slowed rhythm to increase the Rhythm, but Phil’s rhythm is always so high, sometimes we only need a little bit but it’s just a question of time “ Pep 2022,
Time, for Phil Foden, was a conduit that allowed the stream of knowledge, guidance and tutelage of Pep’s thoughts to mould him into the player he is today, Whereas time for ESR was a slow but forever growing ominous shadow that reached up, over and beyond him to black out his days as an Arsenal player.
Injuries, turbulence at the club & multiple loans and managers never allowed him to have one dedicated mentor like Phil had, the circumstances couldn’t have been less favourable. His game in a way, due to the lack of refinement and opportunity for consistent minutes as a player; has stayed the same. He is who was when Chelsea was defeated 3-1 in 2022 December, which was arguably the game that saved Mikel’s Job. But Arsenal are not who they were in 2022 December. They’ve gone beyond him. Whereas time has passed, and arsenal has become a force, it has done so without the needs of Emile.
Ok but what are these flaws that were not ironed out of his game?
Smith-Rowe is a give-and-go player. His whole game is based on either one-twos or passing it-running on-getting it back as the 3rd man. He’s a combination player whose instinct is often to penetrate, to ‘go’.
‘The left Pocket’ was the zone he said he loves to play in, a creator’s zone, where the responsibility isn’t to hold, dictate or circulate the ball, but to carry, dribble and invent. Think of Grealish in his best days at Villa. Pogba when he was in flow at Juventus. Heck, think of Silva and Iniesta in that area for Spain, City or Barcelona where its small spaces but high rewards for the chaos you ensue. “ I just like turning with my left foot and running “ is beautiful. A boy who knows what joy is for him on the football pitch. Reminiscent of the best of Lallana, a premier league half-turn and back foot specialist. In isolation, it’s daft to label this as a flaw. The conflict between ESR’s game and Arteta-ball is there is one player who is forever ready to start a fire versus a manager who doesn’t want you to see the flame until the collective agrees to it. Where his dribbling makes fans stand and applaud ingenuity and sigh in the scoff you do when a nutmeg happens, it is counter to what the consistent ploy is for Arsenal’s midfielders. Arsenal build-up play in patterns, ESR combines but attacks as an individual, he plays in a rhythm out of sync with the others as he is always in Gear 5. Rhythm & gears again. But what Pep said regarding old Foden can be applied to current Smith Rowe, he cannot stand still and play. His pictures are dictated by motion and forward movement. There are times when free runners exist in Arsenal, Odegaard had it in his high-goal season with runs into the box and Kai Havertz blossomed with vacating the midfield to be an aerial late run in threatening spaces too, so why doesn’t it work for Smith Rowe? Because those moments of freedom are still orchestrated, designated as the perfect moment for Kai and Odegaard to ‘go’. For Smith Rowe rather, he doesn’t thrive unless he’s playing on the go, which means he lacks the maturity to be a midfielder who can be a part of all things outside of dribbling. As a midfielder his short passing is fine but over 40 yards is not his strong suit, nor the defensive responsibilities, nor keeping the ball patiently. I watched him live and said aloud “God he creates such attacking ambition with every pass, just watch how his pass sends a message to his teammates to attack”. It was this amazing sight of a boy zipping the top of the ball, where every pass was laced with this transferable courage that was the initiator of so many progressive moments. It was the brightest of lights in the darkest of days for Arsenal at the time. All of which today is just not tempered enough for Arteta’s liking. It’s almost a lack of maturity in his whole game that is truly the reason why he is no longer an Arsenal player. Arteta sees the game through combinations but ESR doesn’t have the actual vision beyond him being involved. Sometimes, you just have to stand still and play at a slower rhythm. Unfortunately for him, he plays too quickly for a team that requires more than individual chaos to be the main current for their attacks.
Why do these Players strike such a chord with Pep & Guardiola? Why can’t they live with the trade-off, the risks that ESR provides that could be invaluable?
Inside the fabric of these two men, lies a strand of DNA that when triggered, sends a chemical to their brains, that dizzies the mind to nauseousness, threatens to shoot the sharpest of pains in the brain in the deepest of sleeps, that works only as a seizure of the mind that hurts, haunts and plagues them until enough time has passed; they live to never allow that molecule to be ruptured again; ever. That molecule is suffering chaos & the trigger is counterattacks and dispossession in central zones.
The similarities between them are not focused on their teams only, but on them as humans. Two highly technical but unathletic central midfielders who understand the game, if they were to be played by them, require the highest IQ to exist in the middle of the park. Should you be unfortunate to have that blessing, then a team of unity and compactness is required to cover your defences. That is the glaring resemblance between both City and Arsenal today. How compact they are. They are masters of suffocation and even better at regrouping into shape after the ball is lost. Why? Because they’ve been burnt before and their scars are etched into the lines of skin on their foreheads. They are forever present and never forgotten. Mikel was there for the 8-2 to United, the own goal he scored in the 3-0 defeat to Everton as a player. The 5-1 defeat to Liverpool in 2014; want to know who his partner was that day? Jack Wilshere (More on that later). Not to mention as a manager for Arsenal, the blitz at Anfield with 4 goals in 45 minutes or the game he managed for City vs Arsenal which was the definition of chaos at the Emirates in 2019 where City romped to a three-goal lead within 20 minutes. He’s lived it, created it and felt it. And Pep, all I have to say is, Leicester, Vini, Vardy, Ronaldo v Bayern, Messi v Boateng, Lyon, Salah & Klopp. Take your pic your memory will spark an image from the carousel of counters Guardiola has suffered. Both Mikel and Pep are lauded for the on-the-ball, patterns of play and sequential passing game, but that Spanish love for control is rooted in the hatred of being punished out of possession. Anfield 5 Arsenal 0. Jack Wilshere being Arteta’s partner that day says a lot to me. Wenger anointed Arteta captain immediately and spoke of his coaching faculties even as a player. It wouldn’t be a surprise that, the high-risk football of an unprotected midfield Wenger put out for years, hardened his stance on the midfielder who almost looks for the crowd of players to squeeze through, to showcase his give-and-go game, like Wilshere and more importantly: like smith rowe. Players of all flow and no pausa who are so liberal in their vacating of the midfield and attacking it just almost reflects a tempo that is simply too quick for the Basque Brothers. Their slowest midfielders today are master orchestrators, Jorginho & Rodri. They live with their unathletic bodies because their team compactness is frighteningly tight, they will always seek to find that margin, whether it is Declan Rice, Kyle Walker, or counter-pressing or having only 10 yards between defence and midfield, simply whatever it is: that gives them a chaos fire extinguisher.
TIME PART TWO:
So Smith Rowe is gone. The boy has departed. The chant is cut in half and the fanbase thankfully has a title to worry about because emotionally, this one, during the bleaker days, would’ve caused anarchy. But that’s the bad thing about being good, you sort of accept all that’s lost along the way on this savage journey to glory. Some academy players just matter more. We as people like the sprouting of our own flowers and the conservatory we create to water them, see them flourish, grow and exist with us is a haven that speaks to our nurturing gene as humans. Hale End was the home that Smith-Rowe blossomed from. For all the logical reasons mentioned above, to see the stem cut from the root is a wound that, no matter how glorious times are now, stings twice in a blink when you see one of your own in another jersey. Time was once a beacon of light for the Croydon De Bruyne & now it’s an unpaused stopwatch that requires some laps to be made up for. And in a way, embracing this loss for Arsenal is the first of many future breakups they will have to accept as a result of simply being good again. In a way, an endless love for all that you started with is a denial of accepting time. As the years go on, the dreams of seeing those who lived in the treehouse staying together simply fade and the reality sets in, which creates room for the soil to be watered just right this time. The birth of something new comes to you again. A Flower named Ethan. Where you learn how to love from the beginning, just like you did for the previous one. A time to live and die all over again.