ESR has limited vision. Sounds weird but he's a bit of a head down link player. Reminds me of Rosicky a bit in that sense.
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Nicolas Pepe: Saint Nic Is Back
ESR has limited vision. Sounds weird but he's a bit of a head down link player. Reminds me of Rosicky a bit in that sense.
Country: England
I’m pretty much done with him under this system I don’t even mind the criticism anymore as he has been poor this season but this i will always disagree with.
A top tier coach who is able to utilise his strengths and it would be a bakery with the amount of humble pie on here. We saw a preview towards the end of last season but even that wasn’t actually playing to the players strengths. We’ll never see it at Arteta’s Arsenal anyway.
You won’t get much out of Pepe against a set defence, the odd goal from nothin you’ll get but ultimately he typically has 2-3 defenders on him when he gets the ball and while his play has been poor this season, even when playing well all he’ll be able to do in that position is pass it to somebody else.
His absolute ceiling in this current system is to be pretty average. But there’s a reason why he’s usually the best of a bad bunch when you look at the underlying stats though. A lot of guys in this team will look better while we are doing nothing, they are the guys who actually prevent us from creating goal scoring opportunities/chances but I notice you make excuses for them. Place those guys and Pepe in a team that actually creates goal scoring opportunities though and I wonder who would be more valued?
tap-in
Nothing Wrong With Me
Pepe has been poor overall this season but ESRs “issue” was all down to himself. This isn’t an isolated incident either, there’s a whole thread.
That arguably makes it 2-0 and the game is done. But yeah, it’s cos Saka wasn’t there.
I agree, he should have passed. My point though was that Pepe on the right as opposed to Saka right weakens the team. Also Saka on the left is not as effective, and that effects other players, including ESR.
Maybe
You're wrong, no?
While I agree that Saka is best on the right, I just can't see how that actually helps the team like you are saying. We are piss poor with Saka on the right, with Saka on the left, with Pepe on the right, or Pepe on the bench. Every once in a while we have a decent game, but even that is random as we've had some good times with both Pepe and Saka on the right, but we are mostly poor with either of them playing there
tap-in
Nothing Wrong With Me
Fair enough, I agree we are poor most of the time. Maybe not quite as poor with Saka on the right
Tbh, as someone posted earlier, a player can have an off day, but when many players are poor at the same time, you have to blame the manager. I think we all know where the real problem lies.
Country: England
The 9 thing ain’t happening. Saka’s not a good enough finisher to be our inverted winger full time but Pepe isn’t playing well enough to start full-time.
What annoys me is Arteta has no interest in at least trying to get Pepe firing. The end to end nature of today’s game would have been perfect to get Pepe some confidence, confidence that could maybe come in useful for a future game. And if not Pepe, then Martinelli. There was no reason to give the overplayed Saka 90 mins tonight.
It’s something that every manager does but Arteta couldn’t wait to get his favourite Ødegaard in (who had a stinker) and then gave Martinelli garbage time.
Rasmi
Negative Nancy
Country: England
Just sell him. I never get how our fans year in year out trying to make players not performing find new positions for them. Just move away from him
Heavy Duty Rom
Outdated Tweets Merchant
Needs to go this summer, we need better. We need Raphinha.
Country: Scotland
Player:Gabriel
Never been an Arteta player so I don't really think Mikel has ever had the intention of doing anything drastic to get the best out him. I think the reason he's lasted so long under him is that he knows barring Auba, Pepe offers our most consistent goal threat. When push comes to shove he'll always be behind the likes of Saka, ESR and Auba in his mind I feel.
With 2 years left on his deal come this summer I feel we'll try and move him on then unless something dramatic changes.
With 2 years left on his deal come this summer I feel we'll try and move him on then unless something dramatic changes.
Heavy Duty Rom
Outdated Tweets Merchant
I think Mikel has tried hard with him, he is just too raw for this league. You never know what you'll get from him from minute to minute. He struggles to do the basics. There are so many better wingers we could replace him with.
Pepe isn't fit to tie Saka shoe laces.
What you claim as an open is a game is in fact no different to any other game we played the, difference being you put Saka at RW and have Lacazette playing almost as a false 9 and in doing so the ability to recieve the ball under pressure improves and the resulting passes open up the game. Having a full back who actually bust a gut to make a run knowing full well he could get ignored but draws the defenders attention opens up the game.
Stop making excuses for Pepe.
Country: Scotland
Player:Gabriel
I've never really had that feeling, obviously nobody is seeing the team day to day but he doesn't strike me as one of his guys. The Leeds sending off was the biggest example of that.
I think predominantly he's kind of forced Arteta's hand in that, regardless of what people think of his performances, he seems to be in one way or another involved in most of our goals when he's on the pitch. Given how much we struggle to score it really is a key reason for his inclusions in my opinion.
Riou
In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over
Country: Northern Ireland
Player:Gabriel
"Don't play Pepe, and you play good football"
...Arsène Wenger, 2021
...Arsène Wenger, 2021
Ash10
Chairman of the Bum Brigade
This reminds me of the time people thought we were gonna buy Draxler & convert him into a striker
Country: England
Country: England
Yeah it’s quite clear that Arteta doesn’t rate him but as a manager who has spent large periods of time fighting for his job (and thus goals) he’s had to rely on him.
There are loads of indicators for that but one that’s clear to me is the subs. You can see he has no interest in playing him into form, I remember last season where Arteta would sub Willian on if we were cruising in an attempt to get some momentum going but would only sub on Pepe if we needed a goal.
I’m 90% sure Arteta will never sub on Pepe in a game we are comfortably winning unless it’s too waste time, and you know what, that’s fine. I think he’s a difficult player to manage, one that Arteta can’t really figure out how to to use at this stage in his career.
We Pepe fans often say “get him into positions close to goal and he’ll show his quality” but that’s actually much easier said than done. Coaching a working attack is one of the the hardest things in football. A top quality manager would get much more out of Pepe (in terms of goals) at RW than he would Saka but your average manager will perform better with Saka there as he contributes more to the build up and overall play.
IstraBalagina
Active Member
Make or break season. Obviously Arteta doesn't like him.
Pop Tart
Established Member
Thought he had a decent enough season last term but in all honesty I do not see what he brings to us. He hangs on to the ball far too long. Can not go past players that often and does not score enough. Think the end is nigh.
Country: Scotland
Player:Gabriel
Most people will always hold the fee against him. I find that hard to do with any player as that's something completely out of their control.
There's definitely a player that a coach who wants and is willing to will get the best out of. Considering how poor we've been in the last couple of years he's put up decent numbers. Sadly though it's looking like it's to late for him here.
It's worth noting that in his time here he's never been under a coach who actually wanted him either. Emery obviously wanted Zaha instead and he's never been Arteta's main priority at all.
