The best players in the world see where pressure is coming from and use their first touch to escape. This is a good soccer skill using timing and body feinting to create space from the defender. It works particularly well when a defender is closing you down as the ball arrives on a pass. I am not the smoothest with this technique, but I will keep practicing.
As much as I love talking athleticism, soccer is a skill sport and we need reps and reps to get better. Like the legendary stories about Ronaldo and David Beckham taking free kicks after training, all of the best players I ever played with would come early or stay late to training and get extra reps on things like long balls, finishing, dribbling moves, etc. “Repetition is the mother of skill”, so get out there and make it happen. In your next soccer game, you will be pleasantly surprised.