Emile Smith Rowe has admitted that he is working to improve on his assists tally this season after notching just two in all competitions for Arsenal in the last 12 months.
The 21 year-old struggled for first-team opportunities since Christmas, with Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard’s impressive form limiting his minutes, but that didn’t stop him from notching a personal record of 11 goals for the campaign (including 10 in the English Premier League).
Smith Rowe will now be hoping that he can work his way back into starting line-up ahead of the new season with a number of competitions set to open up more opportunities for a number of players, and he admits that he is studying the likes of Chelsea’s Mason Mount, Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes and Manchester City pair Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva as he looks to improve his numbers.
“I didn’t really get many assists last season,” he told the DailyMail. “That is one factor I am going to try and improve this season.”
“[I have been] studying, watching games and clips. Seeing where I should have passed it, or the timing of my passes, and where I can create more chances.
“Obviously not just me, watching other players in the league as well.”
When asked which ‘other players’ he had been looking at in particular, he named: “Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Mason Mount.”
I’m a little surprised to see the Chelsea midfielder’s name on this select list if I’m honest, but Mount’s numbers are nothing to play down after the season he just had. Smith Rowe appears to have the right mentality, working on something that he is not happy with behind the scenes. I imagine some players would have thought they had made it after breaking through into the first-team, but ESR seems to believe that there is much work to be done, and he isn’t wrong.
I can’t wait to see what more is to come from Emile and our other exciting young talents this season, and it will be most impressive if he is able to earn his spot back in the starting XI.
Who do you think is most at risk of losing their place to ESR this term?
Patrick
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Keep up the good work,champ.
Nice to see an article on ESR. I feel his potential contribution is being overlooked this off-season (compared to other young attacking players) which is surprising given the step forward he took last year.
The niggling Injuries will hopefully be a thing of the past as he physically matures and is part of a bigger rotation.
I can’t answer your question because I have no idea where his best position is yet. Think he can contribute in a number of areas – both wings, false 9 and CAM to name a few. He strikes me as the type of lad who is going to work hard no matter where the gaffer puts him. Hopefully his best position becomes clearer this season as I think he is too good to be seen as a jack of all trades.
The chance he created to assist laca against burnley that was squandered still hurts,he put in one hell of a hardwork to pull that off only for laca to squander it despite being our only real chance to grab all three points.
I find the idea of working to improve your assists a bit strange. For one, I’d think more in terms of creating chances because the assist is partially dependent on the abilities of your teammates to be in good supporting positions and to finish the chances.
With this sort of thing, I’d advise him to play his natural game and not try to force anything. ESR showed last season he can score goals, which is brilliant at his age, and he does make chances for others, not always directly, but that’s important as well. Mainly, though, I wouldn’t want him to be thinking about the pass when in scoring positions just for the sake of improving his assist numbers.
Don’t studie Mason Mount son tour better than him….
Great mentality.
I remember him last year saying after a game that he had to add goals to his game and he’s managed to do that.
Now he wants to focus more on assists and I’m sure he’ll do it too.
It’s great to have such a humble and determined player at Arsenal.
He’ll keep improving for sure, he’s got the right mindset