Nicolas Pepe: The Nutmeg Express!

[scytheavatar]

Might not be that good, but he is still way better than what I saw anyone else do.

Auba cannot create for ****, Laca is too wayward, and Özil is out of favor. In the end, we are making ourselves so dull that the only we we can score is by some defensive error.

And had Pepe played he would have been part of the problem. He would do nothing but dribble past a few players only to dribble himself into a dead end. Then fans will praise him for looking dangerous without actually being effective.

 

[Ash10]

Has been an utterly horrible signing thus far. Can't remember a single game where he was the best player on the pitch & never impressed me in general
Think we'll end up taking a huge financial hit. & the excuses made for him are just getting worse & worse. The guy is 25; not 17

 

[say yes]

Bit worried that Arteta just doesn’t seem to rate him.

 

[<<reed>>]

Bit worried that Arteta just doesn’t seem to rate him.

Do you rate him, Clive?

 

[Maybe]

Has been an utterly horrible signing thus far. Can't remember a single game where he was the best player on the pitch & never impressed me in general
Think we'll end up taking a huge financial hit. & the excuses made for him are just getting worse & worse. The guy is 25; not 17

That's ridiculous, the guy is barely playing but you expect him to impress you? It's like expecting Özil to impress with his creativity, but he never plays. Does that mean that he is the worst midfielder at Arsenal or it's just the fact that he doesn't play even though he is probably our best midfielder?
Our squad is hardly made out of best players or best performing players, it's more experience over quality or being Arteta's best bud, otherwise, you would never see Bellerin, Xhaka, and Luiz again in this team

 

[krackpot]

And had Pepe played he would have been part of the problem. He would do nothing but dribble past a few players only to dribble himself into a dead end. Then fans will praise him for looking dangerous without actually being effective.

Going ultra-defense will never work because Liverpool will score.

We just needed someone to take it up the field. If you used Pepe like Crystal Palace use Zaha, we could have fluked another goal and got a draw or something.

 

[Macho]

He’s played a total of 45 mins in the league this season so far, so some of the critism is actually funny and mostly nonsense

He’s had several good performances where he’s dropped the next game. He finished very strongly last season so seeing him dropped for an ageing, tired Willian is weird.

We’ve 100% overpaid this can’t be denied anymore, but it’s actually not his fault that he’s not working out. Emery had little time for him and it looks like the same story with Arteta, the club shouldn’t have bought him.

 

[Trilly]

I thought it was a 30 min cameo from the way this thread has grown. 15 minutes seriously?


Confirmation bias at its finest.

 

[say yes]

Do you rate him, Clive?

Yeah I rate him but he doesn’t look like a £70m player to me. He’s obviously got quality but it looks like he’s coasting at times and doesn’t stamp his authority on games like he needs to. Not too worried about the end product as I think that will come, but he needs to get much more involved both defensively and in possession. Willian is a good player, but Pepe has given up that RW slot much too easily for me.

And that’s my major worry. I could justify the £70m spend on the basis that we paid in instalments over a 5y contract, if Pepe was going to improve year-on-year and solidify that position on the right. However if Arteta prefers Willian there then he is not going to get that chance, and it looks like we’re going to have a £70m ‘flop’ on the bench.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

He’s played a total of 45 mins in the league this season so far, so some of the critism is actually funny and mostly nonsense

He’s had several good performances where he’s dropped the next game. He finished very strongly last season so seeing him dropped for an ageing, tired Willian is weird.

We’ve 100% overpaid this can’t be denied anymore, but it’s actually not his fault that he’s not working out. Emery had little time for him and it looks like the same story with Arteta, the club shouldn’t have bought him.

I thought it was a 30 min cameo from the way this thread has grown. 15 minutes seriously?


Confirmation bias at its finest.

Denial isn't only a river in Egypt.

 

[krengon]

Lack of playing time is an issue in itself though.

 

[scytheavatar]

Going ultra-defense will never work because Liverpool will score.

We just needed someone to take it up the field. If you used Pepe like Crystal Palace use Zaha, we could have fluked another goal and got a draw or something.

If we used Pepe we might have conceded more goals too due to him giving away possession then not tracking back....... being Crystal Palace isn't the level that a club of our stature should be inspiring to be. The best offense is a strong defense, you are not going to get into top 4 with mid table hope for the best tactics.

 

[krackpot]

If we used Pepe we might have conceded more goals too due to him giving away possession then not tracking back....... being Crystal Palace isn't the level that a club of our stature should be inspiring to be. The best offense is a strong defense, you are not going to get into top 4 with mid table hope for the best tactics.

goals win games, though. just wanted us to try and score a goals.

We are going to be on crystal palace level if we keep playing this way

Incidentally, the last time we scored more than 4 goals was when we had Özil and Pepe both in the team.

 

[GunnerShy]

Willian was awful. Time to bring Pepe back in for the real stuff.

 

[Moah]

All the talk when he played under the previous managers is that he loses the ball too much. Every time he had the ball all the players used to stand still and watch what he does rather than being in a better position for him to pass.

Since Arteta has come he has stopped dribbling because he may lose the ball so he passes it back.

I don't know what people expect from him tbh, if he dribbles and lose the ball he is criticized, when he plays it safe he gets criticized.

The expectation on here is for him to come in at the 75th minute, dribble past everyone without his body moving, and score a goal but also some how give that ball as an assist too. Then he had a 6/10 game.

 

[Trilly]

Denial isn't only a river in Egypt.

Lool sorry I’m not eager to write off a player who’s shown hints of talent. Find me another bum player who gets almost 20 goal productions in their debut season in England.

Ox is another player who looked to have everything on paper needed to be a top player, I advocated for giving him opportunities then when he got them and failed to improve I admitted that he wasn’t going to work out.

Right now we as a club are making Pepe a waste of money. He’s not going to get better on the bench is he? Give him a run in this new settled team and let’s see what happens.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

All the talk when he played under the previous managers is that he loses the ball too much. Every time he had the ball all the players used to stand still and watch what he does rather than being in a better position for him to pass.

Since Arteta has come he has stopped dribbling because he may lose the ball so he passes it back.

I don't know what people expect from him tbh, if he dribbles and lose the ball he is criticized, when he plays it safe he gets criticized.

The expectation on here is for him to come in at the 75th minute, dribble past everyone without his body moving, and score a goal but also some how give that ball as an assist too. Then he had a 6/10 game.

What are you expectations from him then?

 

[Moah]

What are you expectations from him then?

I expect him to start games and improve on what we saw at the end of last season, because we saw a quality player then.

 

[A_M Iniesta]

Pepe is in ICU , no excuses this guy has to turn up

 

[Garrincha]

Hopefully he has a big game Thursday & wouldn't mind seeing him upfront or central to really get him involved. A pretty fun open game last time in the cup.

With the first team needs to show more or could lose even these minutes to Saka & Martinelli should be back in a couple of months.