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Nicolas Pepe: The Nutmeg Express!

What would you do with Pepe?

  • Keep him for the foreseeable future

  • Give him one more season to prove himself

  • Sell if you can get a significant fee, keep otherwise

  • Sell at any price


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say yes

forum master baiter
I rate Pepe and think he should be starting every game, but have to admit I’m slightly worried that he isn’t an Arteta player.

Feel like he’s going to use him in the same way Pep has used his wingers & Mahrez in particular. Crazy rotation.
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
Does anyone else on AM not like the word "sauce" used to describe footballers who are very skillful/have personality?
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
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Country: England
I rate Pepe and think he should be starting every game, but have to admit I’m slightly worried that he isn’t an Arteta player.

Feel like he’s going to use him in the same way Pep has used his wingers & Mahrez in particular. Crazy rotation.
Same, I think Arteta would have naturally preferred a Bernado Silva type player for balance on the right wing and as a consequence Willian might eat into his minutes.

Hopefully that’s not the case and uses a system that creates 1v1s for him instead like Pep did with Sterling and Sane. Last season he was only used to attract players before a quick switch to the left side, bit of a waste imo.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
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Country: England
Could have easily got an assist with that little bit of skill by the byline, still think he’s the only player in the squad that could pull that off.

I think Arteta prefers Willian though, I hope Nico rises to the challenge rather than letting his head drop.
 

grange

Losing my brain cells 🥸

Country: USA

Player:Havertz
Willian was supposedly brought in to play centrally so he wouldn't have taken time away from Pepe. First game in and we see that's not the case. Worrying.
 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
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Player:Saliba
I think in the end he'll play right wing if we ever manage to play 433/4231

Willian will play centrally in that case
 

celestis

Arsenal-Mania Veteran
Moderator

Country: Australia
Could have easily got an assist with that little bit of skill by the byline, still think he’s the only player in the squad that could pull that off.

I think Arteta prefers Willian though, I hope Nico rises to the challenge rather than letting his head drop.

Think Arteta prefers Willian as he plays within a structure. But Pepe definitely got more gears than Willian in the attacking third.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
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Country: England
Think Arteta prefers Willian as he plays within a structure. But Pepe definitely got more gears than Willian in the attacking third.
Yeah it’s the traditional wide midfielder vs winger thing again. Certain games will call for certain skill sets.
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
Didn't have much time but got stuck in and kept us on the front foot. His game needs refining and he needs to maintain confidence and consistency but after the restart, he's looked as decent as his stats. Fingers crossed for him.
 

Yousif Arsenal

On Vinai's payroll & misses 4th place trophy 🏆
Trusted ⭐
This season is pretty important for him to kick on he'll finally have stability with good manager and competition with Willian so let's see if he deliver. Confident he will.
 

Keplaz

Well-Known Member
I think it's a fitness issue. Pepe will get games. As will Ceballos. Starting on the bench today doesn't mean they won't get games.

This season will be harder on the legs than any other. Everyone will be needed.
 

Makavelii

Active Member
Im expecting 20 goals and at least 10 assists in all competitions, we need him to reach another level so hopefully he can get 30-35 g/a. Which I don’t think is too much to expect.

That is quite a lot to expect.
How many wide wingers are getting those stats in the world?
Auba doesn’t count cause he plays more like an inverted second striker.
 

Football Manager

Copy & Paste Merchant
That is quite a lot to expect.
How many wide wingers are getting those stats in the world?
Auba doesn’t count cause he plays more like an inverted second striker.
People looking to much into stats and forget about the general team play and tactical contribution.

If Willian plays the same again against Fulham, but the goals take one or two more passes before scoring, Willian will not get a single assist. But his general play contribution is just exactly the same. I will still think that he had a great game, some of you won’t.
 
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Macho

In search of Pure Profit 💸
Dusted 🔻

Country: England
That is quite a lot to expect.
How many wide wingers are getting those stats in the world?
Auba doesn’t count cause he plays more like an inverted second striker.
:lol: it’s not realistic at all, especially with the amount of chances we create.

It’s not happening anyways, now that Willian is here and looking good.

It’s quickly looking like another stop and start season for Pepe as he’s probably gonna be in and out the side.

Don’t think Arteta truly fancies him and I could be jumping the gun, but the team looks so much more natural with Willian in it. He just gets the league.
 

Kav

Established Member
His first season in terms of goals was underwhelming but his performances overall was anything but lackluster.

In terms of key contributions and chances created he led the team last season so he was making his mark. Some don’t have an eye for this stuff so they might think he is flopping.

He needs to work on his transitional play to improve efficiency (too many times he has failed to just have a go instead he tries to beat his man twice) to ensure we have more directness in our approach.

Let us hope he improves otherwise it won’t be long for the pressure to pile on.

I have always been against people judging a player by the price of his transfer. He has no control over what clubs negotiate as fees. He is not going around and saying I’m worth 1.5M or 72M. It’s not his fault. We really shouldn’t use it as a stick to beat the player with. Use it as a stick to beat the management or owners with.
 

AbouCuéllar

Author of A-M essays 📚
His first season in terms of goals was underwhelming but his performances overall was anything but lackluster.

Really? I would argue that his goals and assists actually look a bit better than his performance level did. Some of his performances were really rather dreadful but he's saved himself with some goals/assists out of nothing.

I've come around on him a bit with his performances later in the season, especially City in the cup, I think we can turn him into something of a Mahrez-lite. But his slowness of thought and inability to associate at a fast pace makes me think he'll never be the top quality winger we're looking for. We shall see though, other players have improved in this aspect when it looked like they wouldn't. Still have hope, but yeah, certainly long-term he's someone we could sell if he doesn't develop that aspect of his game, depending on the development of Saka, Nelson, ESR, and academy talents + potential buys out there.
 

tap-in

Nothing Wrong With Me
Anyone think we should look to sell him and get some money back next summer if he has another lackluster season?

I dont think it was lacklustre, he didn't really get a proper run. Hopefully he's start a run of games soon.
 

Jury

A-M's drunk uncle
“Lacklustre” makes him sound like he wasn’t trying when he clearly was. More out the game than in on many occasions, or on the periphery, threatening to do something. It’s frustrating because it’s a tease. You see him do some unplayable stuff and then he’s out the game for 25 minutes... I hope he’s watching Willian in training. I can only see him improving for having him around. I don’t like seeing him isolated. As good as he is at beating a man, I like to see him playing with others close by.
 
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