Nicolas Pepe: 2019/20 Performances

[Gooner416]

Hey there! Don't mess with @Macho! He has a pretty awesome avatar! Not as awesome as Honky Tonk Man, but still...

Case, I now know better to not mess with @Macho. I hope for this dudes sake he was born when he made his account because his petulant behavior and attitude mimics one of an adolescent. Pathetic really.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

I never said he "played" like Gervinho. If you're going to go off on a try-hard rant then at least address the actual points being made instead of constructing strawmen.

I said he's "like" Gervinho. Beyond the fact he's an Ivorian that played for Lille and then signed for us I then went on to specifically explain exactly what likeness I was referring to. Which was the following:

"Looked amazing in France but just moved to England and stayed at that level and thought it would be enough"

So clearly as you can see there is zero reference to their individual play-styles being alike but is instead a reference to both of them not having the requisite ability to be outstanding in the PL whilst instead having excelling in the lower leveled Ligue 1.



Yeah spot on. I defer in totality to you as I'm sure you're on the Euro Star to watch them every week. ****, I bet you even have a subscription to their official channel and watch Lille womens and youth football. My mistake mon frère, I wasn't aware I was dealing with a Lille super fan....


Your ability to dribble, to beat a man, 1st touch, shooting ability etc.. are all independent of what system you're deployed in. It's pretty funny seeing people cling on to this notion that the right system is magically going to change Pepe into a world beater when on a very fundamental he's shown that he needs to actually improve aspects of his individual game 1st and foremost.


Haven't wrote him off. That's your 2nd strawman now. For someone who opened his post with cries of how "stunningly lazy" mine was it's highly ironic that you're too lazy (or is it incapable?) of addressing my actual points are instead resort to simple strawmen to knock-down.

What I'm saying is the dynamic of the Pepe discussion needs move away from "he just needs the right system/gain confidence" to instead "he needs to significantly improve his individual game"



He's actually made ambiguous/contradictory statements actually.

"My stats have not been good enough or my usual performances, it is not the same as Lille or the Liverpool game earlier in the season."

As I stated his performances at Lille (nor in the Liverpool game for that matter) are good enough. So it's simple not a case of reaching those levels are thinking everything's going to click into gear.

"My confidence must come back. I am not very worried."

Again I don't see this as a confidence issue. It's actually circular in effect, since his confidence is never going to improve unless he starts playing well and here he's saying playing well is linked with his confidence....

"I have to keep working as the level here is different so is the language."

This is the only encouraging partial quote in that he at least acknowledges the PL is a different level. Not sure what the language has to do with it though, it's always and easy cop-out.

Maybe it's PTSD from the whole Özil situation but I'm just not in the mood anymore for going along with the theory that under-performing players are suddenly going to drastically improve with a system change or a personal change change or any form of change not involving a concerted effort from the player to improve on an individual level.

I don't want to join this intense debate, but felt like referring to a point that I deem most important - Pepe is relatively new to the world of toplevel football, it's important !

You don't have a certain narrative that allows for conclusions that you can put on another player - Never. Ever.

Everyone is different and two players that seem to follow a similar path might turn out on the exact opposite at the end just due to minor events and changes. The mental aspect is 60-70% after all.

I'd like to think Pepe has all the abilities needed to become top 5 in his position.
He's probably the best dribbler in the league, he's got a good shot, a good passing range, he's fast and he is great at set-pieces - pretty much the full package, if you ask me.

Problem with Pepe is probably three-fold right now. Firstly, he needs to adapt to a new league with a different playing style, a different language, culture etc. Secondly, he's a bit shot in confidence and our whole team doesn't work really well to get our attacking players into dangerous situations which you can see for any of our players. And thirdly, very important and a recap of the beginning of the post, he's veeery new to toplevel football and he lacks some positional cleverness and things things that many of our youngsters learned early on.

You can see a lot has changed with him in a very short time under Arteta. He's improved his defensive contribution and fitness massively, he's pressing much better and he's had a few games where he was the central figure of our attacking play.
Sometimes it just needs a few fortune events and mostly a few positional modifications to get a player in those dangerous situations and as soon as he does find that, he's the best in beating a man in the league and has a good shot.

Not to worried to be honest, primarly about the fans to stink up the place again probably.

Many of the people that promised to give Arteta time to change the team seem to have lost it already despite the obvious fact that real, mind-blowing changes cannot be expected before an actual proper PRE-SEASON.

 

[Gunner140]

Pepe is actually having a solid debut season, the problem is that other players are performing poorly.

 

[<<reed>>]

You just feel Arteta doesn't really fancy Bebe and he'll riding the bench as soon as Nelson is fit

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Pepe is actually having a solid debut season, the problem is that other players are performing poorly.

Is Bebe problem that other players are playing poorly?

Also he is having terrible debut season.

A example of good debut season is like the one Martinelly is having!

 

[#254]

You just feel Arteta doesn't really fancy Bebe and he'll riding the bench as soon as Nelson is fit

Phew, glad that he played for United then.

Anyways on a more serious note, I think both Reiss and Martinelli stink at RW from the little I've seen them play on that side. We would probably have won vs Burnley had Pepe played on the right instead of Martinelli.

 

[Maybe]

You just feel Arteta doesn't really fancy Bebe and he'll riding the bench as soon as Nelson is fit

Image bringing 75m CB next season so he could ride the bench as soon as Mustafi is fit!

 

[Red London]

I was listening to the ArsenalVision podcast and they said something quite interesting. The fact that Saka going off ruined our entire game plan shows how focused we are on the left side of the attack. Its no secret that we attack more down that side. It looks like we have a nice setup there when everyone is fit. We get Saka/Kola/KT marauding forward, Auba tucking into LF/ST as his preferred role, and Xhaka filling in in a 'quarterback' type role in LB/CM.

But in doing this we are really leaving the right side open and without much preperation/support. How many times have we seen Pepe isolated this season? It seems like he always has a lot to do, either getting the ball on the halfway line or getting doubled up on. He has actually made some key plays which have led to goals (where he didnt directly score or assist but created the whole opportunity with a clever shimmy or turn). But because we arent dominant enough going down the right, he ends up being relied on to work defensively and play in a way which doesnt suit him. If you remember correctly it was the same last season down the right side after Bellerin got injured. We were relying on Kola overlaps on the left hand side.

I want Arteta to work on building a partnership between Bellerin and Pepe down that right hand side. They certainly have the attacking prowess to pull it off. In the summer we certainly need a midfielder who can carry the ball in midfield, I feel like it would help our wingers out a lot as they will then get the ball in more favourable positions. This was the key to Pepe's success at Lille.

 

[Ash10]

People blaming other players to protect pepe's average debut season to say it gently.
I just don't see him becoming anything close to the money we spent on him, I hope he proves me wrong but his game doesn’t give me much hope

 

[Jae]

People blaming other players to protect pepe's average debut season to say it gently.
I just don't see him becoming anything close to the money we spent on him, I hope he proves me wrong but his game doesn’t give me much hope

You say it like you're surprised mate. That's all people do on here. Özil and Xhaka are the worst for it.

 

[Red London]

People blaming other players to protect pepe's average debut season to say it gently.
I just don't see him becoming anything close to the money we spent on him, I hope he proves me wrong but his game doesn’t give me much hope

I wouldnt blame players, but our system in general doesnt give the right platform for our players. You look at Liverpool and everyone hits the ground running, there's a crazy momentum there which is even carried by the youth players when they start.

At Arsenal everyone has their feet in the mud for some reason, so new signings struggle. Its why I would like us to sign the likes of Grealish and Ake this summer, so they can slot right in when they arrive.

 

[Hleb's Sirush]

How can people be so sure he won't look like a completely different player next season? I think he has shown enough glimpses that hint there is much more to come but even if he didnt, how can people say they haven't got much hope his game won't improve or his game just isn't suited to a higher level like the Premier League?

His second season here is much useful to gauge what he is capable of. Most imports to this league start to perform at their best in their second season. For a lot of those players it isn't even like a gradual improvement, some looked hopelessly out of their depth before suddenly looking like a top player.

A recent example is Fred. His first season he was absolutely hopeless. I mean really dreadfully bad. If you ask any United fan their opinion about him, they were more likely to utter a stream of expletives than give any analysis. Unanimously one of their worst sigings ever. I watched a game where United where playing that season and Fred was in the starting 11 (Can't remember against who). I understood why they had those opinions. He was beyond bad, I'm not exaggerating, seriously looked like someone picked a fan from the stands and put them on the field. He couldn't control simple passes, couldn't pass 5 yards, couldn't tackle, couldn't run. There wasn't a single thing he could do

Fast forward a season later and Fred has established himself as an important player in their starting 11. His performances have improves so much that is almost not believable it is the same player. Now go to any United matchday thread and Fred is being mentioned as man of the match regularly. Currently he is probably tied with Rashford as their player of the season.

Of course this doesn't mean Pepe is also automatically going to improve his performances 500% like Fred or others like Soyuncu for example, who also was seen as a failure in his first season. There is no guarantee he will even show any improvement at all. It does mean you can't really start talking about trying to cut your losses or chalking down his signing as a mistake.

 

[Trilly]

How can people be so sure he won't look like a completely different player next season? I think he has shown enough glimpses that hint there is much more to come but even if he didnt, how can people say they haven't got much hope his game won't improve or his game just isn't suited to a higher level like the Premier League?

His second season here is much useful to gauge what he is capable of. Most imports to this league start to perform at their best in their second season. For a lot of those players it isn't even like a gradual improvement, some looked hopelessly out of their depth before suddenly looking like a top player.

A recent example is Fred. His first season he was absolutely hopeless. I mean really dreadfully bad. If you ask any United fan their opinion about him, they were more likely to utter a stream of expletives than give any analysis. Unanimously one of their worst sigings ever. I watched a game where United where playing that season and Fred was in the starting 11 (Can't remember against who). I understood why they had those opinions. He was beyond bad, I'm not exaggerating, seriously looked like someone picked a fan from the stands and put them on the field. He couldn't control simple passes, couldn't pass 5 yards, couldn't tackle, couldn't run. There wasn't a single thing he could do

Fast forward a season later and Fred has established himself as an important player in their starting 11. His performances have improves so much that is almost not believable it is the same player. Now go to any United matchday thread and Fred is being mentioned as man of the match regularly. Currently he is probably tied with Rashford as their player of the season.

Of course this doesn't mean Pepe is also automatically going to improve his performances 500% like Fred or others like Soyuncu for example, who also was seen as a failure in his first season. There is no guarantee he will even show any improvement at all. It does mean you can't really start talking about trying to cut your losses or chalking down his signing as a mistake.

The Fred part is hilarious. Couple of my closest friends support United and the levels of hatred for this guy was hilarious. It was Mustafi level honestly.

Having as good of a season as Rashford might be stretching it but they have admitted that he’s stepped up this season and is actually one of the guys who should stay. And like you said, that was Fred. A guy who didn’t even look like a footballer at times last season, and even at the start of this season.

 

[pikey2000]

How can people be so sure he won't look like a completely different player next season? I think he has shown enough glimpses that hint there is much more to come but even if he didnt, how can people say they haven't got much hope his game won't improve or his game just isn't suited to a higher level like the Premier League?

His second season here is much useful to gauge what he is capable of. Most imports to this league start to perform at their best in their second season. For a lot of those players it isn't even like a gradual improvement, some looked hopelessly out of their depth before suddenly looking like a top player.

A recent example is Fred. His first season he was absolutely hopeless. I mean really dreadfully bad. If you ask any United fan their opinion about him, they were more likely to utter a stream of expletives than give any analysis. Unanimously one of their worst sigings ever. I watched a game where United where playing that season and Fred was in the starting 11 (Can't remember against who). I understood why they had those opinions. He was beyond bad, I'm not exaggerating, seriously looked like someone picked a fan from the stands and put them on the field. He couldn't control simple passes, couldn't pass 5 yards, couldn't tackle, couldn't run. There wasn't a single thing he could do

Fast forward a season later and Fred has established himself as an important player in their starting 11. His performances have improves so much that is almost not believable it is the same player. Now go to any United matchday thread and Fred is being mentioned as man of the match regularly. Currently he is probably tied with Rashford as their player of the season.

Of course this doesn't mean Pepe is also automatically going to improve his performances 500% like Fred or others like Soyuncu for example, who also was seen as a failure in his first season. There is no guarantee he will even show any improvement at all. It does mean you can't really start talking about trying to cut your losses or chalking down his signing as a mistake.

Also Mahrez, who is very similar in terms of style and physique, first season for Leicester was something like 30 appearances, 4 goals and 3 assists, the very next season, 37 appearances, 17 goals, 11 assists, now i'm not saying he'll light it up to those levels next season but there are plenty of examples of players taking a season to adapt, and Pepe has joined in a season where the club has been turned upside down and he under his 3rd manager already.

The squad needs time under Arteta, and like other have said, at least a Pre-season to recap/recoup/restart (hopefully with a couple of new faces)

 

[Tir Na Nog]

How can people honestly watch Pepe and then still believe he won't come good, forget about the money obviously it was an insane figure which we paid for him. But you can just see what he has in his locker. The problem is we're just not getting him into threatening positions often enough. The way the team is geared up at the moment we're not really playing away that sees Pepe getting those spaces. It's why I want someone like Benrahma, if we attract the opponent to the left hand side and switch the ball quickly to the right Pepe will have space to cause damage. Martinelli on the left is more of a forward looking to get into space, so he benefits from doing the same but with the other flank. Look at City when both Mahrez and Sterling are playing, they draw the opposition to one side and then all of a sudden Mahrez/Sterling or whoever has a bit of space to operate on the other side. It's what their entire attack is based around. At the moment we're still in the early days of perfecting Arteta's style which I assume will end up similar to a Guardiola team where our main aim is dragging opponents one side and then quickly finding the players in space on the other side.

With Pepe you can see he's dangerous, look at everytime he plays he draws several opponents to him, they know he can absolutely rip teams apart given the space hence why no team allows him to have the space. Against United he found himself free and scores a goal, he also hit the post with a great effort, against West Ham finds space and curls one into the top corner, he then gets an assist in a similar position. He goes past players with ease, he's hard to stop when he's running at defenders. He has so much that makes a top top wide player that to write him off is beyond crazy it makes sense. You can really separate the people who just care about numbers and those who actually watch the game by how they view Pepe and if they're calling him a flop or not.

 

[Jae]

Not going to get the best of him whilst our midfield continues to be non-existant. Improvements needed in the summer I think.

 

[tap-in]

I'm more concerned with Arteta than I am Pepe. He dropped Laca who has been way below his own poor standard, and benched Pepe. Ok he may not have set the world alight but he has looked a much bigger threat than Laca in every game he's played this season.

 

[OnlyOne]

How can people honestly watch Pepe and then still believe he won't come good, forget about the money obviously it was an insane figure which we paid for him. But you can just see what he has in his locker. The problem is we're just not getting him into threatening positions often enough. The way the team is geared up at the moment we're not really playing away that sees Pepe getting those spaces. It's why I want someone like Benrahma, if we attract the opponent to the left hand side and switch the ball quickly to the right Pepe will have space to cause damage. Martinelli on the left is more of a forward looking to get into space, so he benefits from doing the same but with the other flank. Look at City when both Mahrez and Sterling are playing, they draw the opposition to one side and then all of a sudden Mahrez/Sterling or whoever has a bit of space to operate on the other side. It's what their entire attack is based around. At the moment we're still in the early days of perfecting Arteta's style which I assume will end up similar to a Guardiola team where our main aim is dragging opponents one side and then quickly finding the players in space on the other side.

With Pepe you can see he's dangerous, look at everytime he plays he draws several opponents to him, they know he can absolutely rip teams apart given the space hence why no team allows him to have the space. Against United he found himself free and scores a goal, he also hit the post with a great effort, against West Ham finds space and curls one into the top corner, he then gets an assist in a similar position. He goes past players with ease, he's hard to stop when he's running at defenders. He has so much that makes a top top wide player that to write him off is beyond crazy it makes sense. You can really separate the people who just care about numbers and those who actually watch the game by how they view Pepe and if they're calling him a flop or not.

Pretty much sums up how I feel and have felt since we signed him really, but I'm a lazy poster so thanks for that.

I said I've been a little disappointed which I think is far, but his ability is there for everyone to see. Unreal technique and ability.

 

[Hleb's Sirush]

The Fred part is hilarious. Couple of my closest friends support United and the levels of hatred for this guy was hilarious. It was Mustafi level honestly.

Having as good of a season as Rashford might be stretching it but they have admitted that he’s stepped up this season and is actually one of the guys who should stay. And like you said, that was Fred. A guy who didn’t even look like a footballer at times last season, and even at the start of this season.

Yeah it was hilarious how easy it was to wind up their fans by just mentioning his name.

As for how well he is currently playing, I haven't seen many of his games this season so can't really comment myself, it was entirely based on my conversations with United fans. Also thought I would have a look at his thread at Redcafe. All of those comments below were just from the last two pages, so it isn't even like I went through page after page to find them.

He is gradually becoming our most important player.

Fred is turning into our own Kantè.

Proper player now. I don’t think we’re talking about a “squad” player, I think Fred this season has shown exactly why Pep wanted him at City.

For me, he’s now comfortably our best outfield player

Personally think even if Rashford was fit Fred is still easily POTY.

Player of the year for sure after Rashford’s injury as cannot think of another Utd player who have performed week in week out.

Looked head and shoulders above other United players on the field.

I'm questioning whether he's too good for us, who would have even contemplated that at the start of the season

MOTM most weeks at the moment. City would have been in a much better position this season had he gone there as rumours initially suggested.

Oh my god, the amount of times this guy got a foot in is beyond ridiculous. MOTM for me.

He's slowly becoming my favourite player.

He also was voted player of the month for January by their official site. I personally think they are getting a little bit carried away with all the praise but it is still hard to believe it is the same player they all wanted sold just a few months ago.

 

[benjamin86]

Yeah it was hilarious how easy it was to wind up their fans by just mentioning his name.

As for how well he is currently playing, I haven't seen many of his games this season so can't really comment myself, it was entirely based on my conversations with United fans. Also thought I would have a look at his thread at Redcafe. All of those comments below were just from the last two pages, so it isn't even like I went through page after page to find them.

He is gradually becoming our most important player.

Fred is turning into our own Kantè.

Proper player now. I don’t think we’re talking about a “squad” player, I think Fred this season has shown exactly why Pep wanted him at City.

For me, he’s now comfortably our best outfield player

Personally think even if Rashford was fit Fred is still easily POTY.

Player of the year for sure after Rashford’s injury as cannot think of another Utd player who have performed week in week out.

Looked head and shoulders above other United players on the field.

I'm questioning whether he's too good for us, who would have even contemplated that at the start of the season

MOTM most weeks at the moment. City would have been in a much better position this season had he gone there as rumours initially suggested.

Oh my god, the amount of times this guy got a foot in is beyond ridiculous. MOTM for me.

He's slowly becoming my favourite player.

He also was voted player of the month for January by their official site. I personally think they are getting a little bit carried away with all the praise but it is still hard to believe it is the same player they all wanted sold just a few months ago.

I've seen Fred play a few times this season and he's improved immensely similar to Kovacic at Chelsea.