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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


Results are only viewable after voting.
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Token Yank

Well-Known Member
I'm a Pepe fan but I don't understand why people are saying he was good today. Looked very average until late in the game. However, like the rest of our forward line, he was getting almost no service.

His talent is clearly there though. He has good end product, excellent dribbling ability and is lightning quick. He just needs a better system and to get out of his own head.
The whole attack was ****. He was aggressive the whole game and seemed to go into a different gear in crunch time. He has the ability to pull something out of his ass. 2nd half some random long ball was hit aimlessly, hustled and made a very athletic play to keep it in bounds then whip in a nice cross (cleared by defender). Cedric was a total bum and couldn't find him all game. Think I am becoming a reformed Bellerin hater. Also, not that it really matters, but he drew 2 yellow cards in the game. One in the first 15 minutes where he intercepted the ball deep in our own half then drove forward and roasted a guy on the dribble in space in their half. Also, free kick (I know) had the game tying assist.
 

Geofranco

Would let Saka date his daughter

Player:Saka
To do whatever he is doing on the right... but better. His game on the right is predictable and any opponent knows that his speed, which is considerable, is eventually checked as he has to turn to use his left.

Everyone can't play on the left, man. We have Auba, Saka, Nelson, Martinelli when he comes back, I think even Willian plays better on the left. We need a bit more flair in the midfield, players with technique and creativity. Partey helps, but he is just one player in the cog, we need like two more with that level of quality.
 

Geofranco

Would let Saka date his daughter

Player:Saka
I don't think Pepe will ever live up to the pricetag. He is prob a player that would have been more devastating in a counter attacking team. His finishing technique is very good. Maybe we should try him as a CF. I'd rather him there than Laca or even Nketiah. He just gets too crowded trying to do too much whenever he has the ball or not making decisions quick enough. Get him closer in on goal and he will at least put up good goal and assist numbers.
 

zilfy

Active Member
I don't think Pepe will ever live up to the pricetag. He is prob a player that would have been more devastating in a counter attacking team. His finishing technique is very good. Maybe we should try him as a CF. I'd rather him there than Laca or even Nketiah. He just gets too crowded trying to do too much whenever he has the ball or not making decisions quick enough. Get him closer in on goal and he will at least put up good goal and assist numbers.
I agree, at least give him a shot at CF in one of these EL matches. How can we know if hes good there if we never try it?

Trying Willian at CF seems a far more radical suggestion and it's already been done
 

2Smokeyy

5.0 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (49)
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Arteta isn’t helping him though. Team set up, in and out the team etc.

Pepe would look a different animal if Wenger was his manager.

Agree with this. His movement and positioning looks way off. I’ve noticed every game we play he’s always making deep runs rather than playing on the shoulder of the defender. He needs to analyse Saka’s game because he’s outperforming him.

Anyways, last weekend was a prime example:

 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
Agree with this. His movement and positioning looks way off. I’ve noticed every game we play he’s always making deep runs rather than playing on the shoulder of the defender. He needs to analyse Saka’s game because he’s outperforming him.

Anyways, last weekend was a prime example:


He's always way too deep. But he seemed to score most of his goals in France playing of the shoulder of defender so it must be partly what he's instructed to do
 

TakeChillPill

Established Member
Agree with this. His movement and positioning looks way off. I’ve noticed every game we play he’s always making deep runs rather than playing on the shoulder of the defender. He needs to analyse Saka’s game because he’s outperforming him.

Anyways, last weekend was a prime example:

He's a goal keeper playing on the wing what do you expect
 

Country: Iceland
Agree with this. His movement and positioning looks way off. I’ve noticed every game we play he’s always making deep runs rather than playing on the shoulder of the defender. He needs to analyse Saka’s game because he’s outperforming him.

Anyways, last weekend was a prime example:


His football brain seems to be lacking most of the time. Positional wise he makes bad decisions all the time.

And now he seems to have lost confidence to dribble. Barely beats his man any more.
 

chessygoal

Well-Known Member
Agree with this. His movement and positioning looks way off. I’ve noticed every game we play he’s always making deep runs rather than playing on the shoulder of the defender. He needs to analyse Saka’s game because he’s outperforming him.

Anyways, last weekend was a prime example:

I'm ready to bet that the guy who made this video never played football at a decent level, it's ridiculous to do clips like that. I used to love Zonal Marking, but his copycats are awful.
 

Macho

In search of Pure Profit 💸
Dusted 🔻

Country: England
I'm ready to bet that the guy who made this video never played football at a decent level, it's ridiculous to do clips like that. I used to love Zonal Marking, but his copycats are awful.
I didn’t want to say it but that vid is a joke. Some of it you can clearly see our players standing in a perfect line and him looking around so you can guess there is some structure and instruction there.

Furthermore they should do a clip showing all the runs this guy makes that get ignored.

People moaning for moaning sake I do wish we signed someone else that people complained less about.
 
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Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
Agree with this. His movement and positioning looks way off. I’ve noticed every game we play he’s always making deep runs rather than playing on the shoulder of the defender. He needs to analyse Saka’s game because he’s outperforming him.

Anyways, last weekend was a prime example:

Pepe seems clueless and that's not something you can coach out of him. Arteta needs to simplify his game and teach him pass and move into space and on to the last defender. We will probably lose his defensive contribution for what that's worth but on the pitch, he's frightening nobody. The other thing is that there's no football brain in midfield, Partey aside. Were relying on Luiz to find him on the turn every time.
 

Tir Na Nog

Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes

Country: Ireland
People go on about what Wenger would do with Pepe, there's zero chance in hell Wenger would've ever signed a player like Pepe. It's been rightly pointed out that Pepe is struggling with pass and move football, which is the basic fundamentals to Wenger's philosophy. It's very very rare that Wenger had a pure dribbler on the flank, who's entire game was getting past as many players as possible and cutting in. You look at Pires and Ljungberg, both were merely one/two touch then move and look to exploit space. Only really exception I can think of is Hleb, but he was still far more of a pass and mover than Pepe is. Hleb knew when to dribbler and commit multiple players and when just to keep it simple and was very intelligent with his movement. Other similar wide players like Nasri, Rosicky, even Cazorla played there. Alexis might be an exception too but again he was much much better with his movement than Pepe, and even then you'd say Alexis probably wasn't a typical Wenger wide player either. Walcott's sole role was based upon exploiting space to an extent that he wouldn't even get involved in the build-up. Basically I don't buy all this stuff about Pepe excelling under Wenger at all, I don't even believe Wenger would've ever authorised his transfer, even at half the price we got Pepe, never mind smashing our transfer record for a player like Pepe.
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
People go on about what Wenger would do with Pepe, there's zero chance in hell Wenger would've ever signed a player like Pepe. It's been rightly pointed out that Pepe is struggling with pass and move football, which is the basic fundamentals to Wenger's philosophy. It's very very rare that Wenger had a pure dribbler on the flank, who's entire game was getting past as many players as possible and cutting in. You look at Pires and Ljungberg, both were merely one/two touch then move and look to exploit space. Only really exception I can think of is Hleb, but he was still far more of a pass and mover than Pepe is. Hleb knew when to dribbler and commit multiple players and when just to keep it simple and was very intelligent with his movement. Other similar wide players like Nasri, Rosicky, even Cazorla played there. Alexis might be an exception too but again he was much much better with his movement than Pepe, and even then you'd say Alexis probably wasn't a typical Wenger wide player either. Walcott's sole role was based upon exploiting space to an extent that he wouldn't even get involved in the build-up. Basically I don't buy all this stuff about Pepe excelling under Wenger at all, I don't even believe Wenger would've ever authorised his transfer, even at half the price we got Pepe, never mind smashing our transfer record for a player like Pepe.

My main issue with Pepe is that he has a languid style similar to Özil, that's not ideal for a winger in this league...his lack of aggression when on the ball really hinders him, stops him from consistently getting passed fullbacks.

Overmars was a pure dribbler, Reyes aswell (though you could also say Jose was good at everything really) would have liked to have seen how Arsène would have done with Pepe, see if Nico could suit Arsène's more attacking style.
 

Tir Na Nog

Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes

Country: Ireland
My main issue with Pepe is that he has a languid style similar to Özil, that's not ideal for a winger in this league...his lack of aggression when on the ball really hinders him, stops him from consistently getting passed fullbacks.

Overmars was a pure dribbler, Reyes aswell (though you could also say Jose was good at everything really) would have liked to have seen how Arsène would have done with Pepe, see if Nico could suit Arsène's more attacking style.

Overmars was superb at exploiting space tho, something which Pepe isn't great at at all. I honestly think Wenger would have to seriously work hard with Pepe to get him to change.
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
I don't think Pepe will ever live up to the pricetag. He is prob a player that would have been more devastating in a counter attacking team. His finishing technique is very good. Maybe we should try him as a CF. I'd rather him there than Laca or even Nketiah. He just gets too crowded trying to do too much whenever he has the ball or not making decisions quick enough. Get him closer in on goal and he will at least put up good goal and assist numbers.

Maybe it's partly about the style of play, that he was in a counterattacking team at Lille and we play differently. Or maybe it's just a level thing. Playing at Lille and making a name for himself wasn't so serious, but once you've been bought for 72m and you're at Arsenal suddenly it's a lot more serious. His Dad said it himself, by nature Pepe isn't a serious guy.

I mean the guy is very talented, he had a great season at Lille (in which he scored a lot of penalties) and he's been expected to be something which he just isn't. He'll produce moments of brilliance but I doubt we'll ever get consistency out of him, he just doesn't have the determination or work ethic for that.
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
I mean look at the way he took corners in the last game. It's a small thing, but you simply don't take corners like that if you're a serious player.
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
Overmars was superb at exploiting space tho, something which Pepe isn't great at at all. I honestly think Wenger would have to seriously work hard with Pepe to get him to change.

Fair point on Marc...brings me on to another issue of mine, is Pepe that fast?

He isn't slow, like a Lacazette or a Giroud, but he has never really blown me away with his speed...wonder if that's down to a lack of intensity in his play, or just a genuine lack of speed compared to other wingers...can't remember him really destroying a fullback for pace on too many occasions.
 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
Fair point on Marc...brings me on to another issue of mine, is Pepe that fast?

He isn't slow, like a Lacazette or a Giroud, but he has never really blown me away with his speed...wonder if that's down to a lack of intensity in his play, or just a genuine lack of speed compared to other wingers...can't remember him really destroying a fullback for pace on too many occasions.

He's fast enough. His issue is where he find himself on the pitch. You can't outrun a defender from the halfway line
 
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