Nicolas Pepe: Saint Nic Is Back

[Maybe]

Cherry picking stats to fit a narrative is even worse quality of posting. Pepe wasn’t good enough it was evident to everyone without an agenda.

I didn't cherry pick anything, it's his stats under Arteta not some made up crap, unless you think PL is not a good enough indicator of someone's ability

 

[freeglennhelder2]

Which other team than us would pay 60 million for havertz? It’s not like several teams in the league rated him. Everyone is shocked Chelsea got their money back for their flop

As far as pepe goes. Arsenal has enough money for the manager to write off whoever he wants and get new toys. If we were not loaded we wouldn’t either loan him out or pay him off. He has contributed in the past and is good enough to contribute. His best season in the pl he scored more than a guy we spent 65 million on.

Scored a a few bangers, but in general he cut a sad, isolated figure disassociated from the team. Looking at last season I can’t see how he fits into the mindset that is being cultivated. Even Tierney at his most depressed offers more to the team.

It’s not a question of skill alone, it’s mindset attitude and discipline off the ball.

 

[DanDare]

I saw him training by himself wearing a Lille shirt on social media. Seems he's not come back to Arsenal?

 

[Maybe]

I saw him training by himself wearing a Lille shirt on social media. Seems he's not come back to Arsenal?

Is he fit again? He missed the second half of the season

 

[freeglennhelder2]

An absolute steal for about 50M can't believe someone hasn't come in for him, probably due to injury. I hope no one from the Saudi Pro League is reading this thread and swoops in for him - would be gutted. Most underrated player in the Premer league by a country mile.

 

[say yes]

Why aren’t the Saudis interested?

Buying everyone else from the top 6.

 

[MartiSaka]

Why aren’t the Saudis interested?

Buying everyone else from the top

It's chelsea mainly isn't it? You gotta have the right friends to do you a favour?

 

[Nunowoolmez]

Arteta and Zinchenko preview United clash

Every word from Mikel Arteta and Alex Zinchenko's pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester United friendly

www.arsenal.com

On Nicolas Pepe’s future:
MA: At the moment he is recovering from an injury which is why he’s not here. He had a spell on loan and obviously we wanted to get much more than we got from that loan spell. We have to see when we come back, understand what the plans are and make the right decision for him.

Savage.

 

[daron christie]

Arteta and Zinchenko preview United clash

Every word from Mikel Arteta and Alex Zinchenko's pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester United friendly

www.arsenal.com

On Nicolas Pepe’s future:
MA: At the moment he is recovering from an injury which is why he’s not here. He had a spell on loan and obviously we wanted to get much more than we got from that loan spell. We have to see when we come back, understand what the plans are and make the right decision for him.

Savage.

Hence why we not going deep on Kudus

 

[Nunowoolmez]

Hence why we not going deep on Kudus

It doesn't really sound like we want to keep him tho does it

 

[Gunn3rs4urus]

We just can’t get rid of him

 

[ggunner12345]

I can see us terminating his contract if we can't sell him This summer.

 

[UpTheGunnerz]

Redemption arc needed

 

[Sanchez11]

Wtf was this bump

 

[db10_therza]

Fs…

Players request not to share room with Arsenal winger

Arsenal's Nicolas Pepe encounters unexpected issues with his teammates due to his snoring, leading to a room swap. Learn about the unusual off-field saga.

dailycannon.com

 

[CountChocula]

Fan translation of Pepe's recent interview in french:

He didn't really have a great desire to leave Lille because the team finished second and he believed in the project, however the board wanted to cash in on him. He turned down an offer from China and wanted above all to move to the premier league. He had other offers from PL teams but the main two clubs in for him were Arsenal and Napoli. The difference between the two were the attitudes of the two managers. Ancelotti only had a 3 minute call with Pepe and says he rushed through the explanation of where he would fit in the team and what Ancelotti wanted and was left completely unimpressed and felt it was forced on Ancelotti's part. Emery spoke for 45 mins with him in passable French but was very extensive and there was mutual respect between the two.

Arriving at Arsenal was going up another level for him. The first person he saw was Lacazette when he walked in. He says he was later advised not to train with the french players in order to get over the language barrier (direct quote: English really not his thing) and he felt completely lost at first. He didn't understand what was going on with the training sessions even with the French players and was lost in his first game for the same reason.

He was overwhelmed by his debut at home. The Arsenal fans are at another level from what he was used to at Lille and he felt a huge amount of pressure. He later says that his price tag played a huge factor in his experience as everyone was expecting a Messi level player, however he hugely enjoyed his first game at home.

In the interview he prefers to compare his performances to that of a Winger who gets 10-12 goals and 10 assists per season than that of a 20 goal per season winger. He feels as if he was a victim of the teams instability and that he is not necessarily a player who's contribution is always reflected in raw statistics. He feels hard done by after being labeled a flop which he says is a label he can never remove. In the interview he says he does not care at all about the comments however this I struggle to believe that based on his tone.

There is a very good question from the interviewer in regards to the difference in playing style at Arsenal compared to Lille. He askes how Pepe coped with no longer being a player who mainly operated in transition where he was able to take the ball and run into the empty field in front of him and was now tasked with receiving the ball higher up the pitch, operating in smaller spaces with a more dominant team and in a more intense league. Pepe says that this summary is perfect but starts talking about the lack of support he received from his Arsenal teammates in comparison with Lille. He says that the language barrier was never overcome and specifically mentions that he didn't reach any kind of understanding with the English players (I believe AMN was playing behind him frequently in his first seasons).

He says that the pace of the premier league was a big change. He says according to the stats when a player receives the ball in the premier league he has approx. one second to make a decision whereas in France you have much more time to control the ball, raise your head and dribble.

Nonetheless he saw signs of promise after his first season and was convinced that things would eventually work out, however because of the flop label others did not see it this way.

Artetas' arrival is a big change. He says that Mikel has an exact image in mind of his team and how he wants his players to play and not even poor results will change his plans nor the fact that the players he had at the time may not have fit his style.

He says that Arteta is extremely close to his players and Pepe found Arteta's ability in French to be extremely helpful - he compares conversations with him to that he is having with the interviewer. He says Arteta did not class Pepe from the beginning as a player who did not have the capability to play in his system and that Mikel had a huge amount of belief in him and his potential and he received a huge amount of precise instruction, video analysis sessions with the other coaching staff and general personal attention.

He was surprised to be a substitute from the beginning of Arteta's second season with Arsenal when Willian was continuously picked ahead of him for 11 matches. He repeats that Arteta improved him hugely in various aspects of his game, however under Arteta his role was strictly to wait on the right wing to receive the ball whereas Pepe was used to being allowed to roam under previous coaches.

The interviewer asks a question on the perception of Pepe as a player who is talented but doesn't work hard enough off the ball and in other ways. He says this is not something he does consciously but admits this was a point of improvement for Arteta and his staff and that due to a lack of alertness he had made mistakes which led to goals in the past. There is a funny moment where Pepe says that in Arteta's philosophy, if you defend well you are then best placed to attack, but Pepe doesn't really understand why. Direct quote in French: "Quand tu défends bien, t'es bien placé pour attaquer. Tu vois ok? Pourquoi je sais pas. Mais c'est bon."

The interviewer asks if there was a moment when he feels Arteta let Pepe fall to one side and started prioritizing the development of other players, notably Saka. Long winded answer but Pepe eventually points to the 3-1 win against Sp**s September 2021. It was in this game that Arteta changed the usual team for a team centred around Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli and younger players. Pepe puts the improvement in performance not down to the quality of individual players in the system but the overall chemistry of the starting 11 that played the match, not that a player better suited be on Arteta's RW had taken his place. He points to this as a pivotal moment for the club when Arteta's plan began to click.

He goes on to mention that he did not play for the next 9 months. I start to lose track what Pepe is saying here at 1 hr 20 mins but he seems to be speaking about Saka without naming him. I can't keep track of exactly who Pepe is talking about when he says the word "he" but he seems to infer that Saka and Mikel had a special relationship that went beyond Pepe's. He insists that when this player scores, Pepe is still happy for him. Again I lose track of who Pepe is referring to but it seems that he stopped speaking regularly to Arteta around this time.

This tension comes to a head when in a poor training session, Pepe is playing a defensive role in a game but is letting the play run past him on his right side repeatedly. Eventually the other team goes five or six goals ahead and Arteta stops the game, crosses the pitch from one side to the other, with all the players watching approaches Pepe and tells him in his ear that if this happens one more time to leave the session.

They speak after the session and clear the air about their respective disappointments and Arteta plays Pepe the game after. Pepe is complimentary about Mikel's management style and appreciates that their discussion was private and that Mikel told him off discreetly. There remains a lot of respect between the two.

The season after, Pepe expresses that he wishes to leave, he wants to rediscover his form in France and even though Arteta is reluctant to let him go Pepe feels like he is not in his plans. He leaves for Nice.

 

[ragnarock]

Shame he is lacking to much in some aspects of his game. He has real edge and could have been an effective player off the bench and a good rotation option for Saka.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Interesting interview. Thanks for the translation. He seems quite a humble guy and ready to admit his flaws. I find him quite a likeable character tbh.

Though if it's true that the language barrier was never overcome as stated, that is pretty much on him. No wonder he looked a fish out of water at times and isolated.

Hopefully he can find a new club this window. I've no hard feelings towards him anyway.

 

[GoonerJay24]

Shame he is lacking to much in some aspects of his game. He has real edge and could have been an effective player off the bench and a good rotation option for Saka.

What is he lacking that stops him getting chances?

 

[ragnarock]

What is he lacking that stops him getting chances?

I’m in no means a Pepe specialist (missed a lot of games those years) but I’d say he’s too much of a one trick pony. Not well rounded enough to be a top modern player.

Main thing for me is his defending (positional awareness and work rate) and mental aspects (concentration and applying himself). He can do brilliant stuff around the box but he needs to do it more often.

Like I said I think he could be a brilliant impact sub but since we rarely sub Saka (especially when chasing a goal) that of course limits his usefulness. But he can finish inside- and outside the box and he used to float/bend early crosses from an inverted position with his left which would be perfect for a Havertz blind side run of the furthest center back.

He needs to get back in a flow and being Saka-backup won't do that. Unfortunately, like i said: a in-form and confident Nico Pepe would definately get the team some goals as an impact player.