ThlRama
Active Member
Country: Greece
Player:Saka
Very fickle on here as usual I see
A hattrick by now would've been tolerable for some tbh.
Very fickle on here as usual I see
Not as confident as I once was, I still think long term he’ll be okay but we might not see anything until the second half of the season.
He’s simply not getting chances, every shot on goal he’s getting is being created by himself.
I guess that’s more of a Unai Emery Etxegoien issue than a Pepe issue.
Dribbles are all well and good but they’re never the main source of any goal scoring wide players chances. See Salah, Mane, Sterling etc.I think he’s somewhat struggling more so because defenders have somewhat found him out. They realized to back off him a bit (as he can turn/cut on a dime) vs stay tight like Burnley and Liverpool did, that he won’t use his right foot and thus he only wants/can cut onto his left and move central into more defenders where his only option is a shot from distance.
Bellerin coming back and being a good overlapping threat will help, but despite some great dribbling he seems pretty one dimensional once he gets into the final third and it’s up to him to give defenders something else to think about aswell.
Because Emery thinks Pepe doesn't track back enough, or do it as well as AubaDon’t get why we keep playing him as a sort of floating striker.
Auba kept drifting out wide and Pepe filled in up top, surely it should be the other way round?
Dribbles are all well and good but they’re never the main source of any goal scoring wide players chances. See Salah, Mane, Sterling etc.
One of Pepe’s strengths at Lille were the runs in behind, it’s not like he was taking on his defender for every goal he scored. How many times has Pepe been presented with a chance this season after making a run? I think we could count that on one hand. He’s currently being relied on to create every single chance for himself and that’s just bad management.
What’s better than one player making runs in behind? Two players making runs in behind!Problem I see it is PEA is better at being the one to run in behind, especially when he’s playing at CF, so that makes him be the one who need to create on the wing. With that said I think he’s a bit better with Laca as he plays the Firminho role of bringing/playing in PEA/Pepe pretty well imo, despite it not being ideal as someone is always playing out of their preferred position.
Pepe got his first goal in and Laca should be back after the upcoming break along with Bellerin (*touch wood* on both) so I hope for a big upturn soon. Even better if starts a few weeks early and rips up United next week.