Nicolas Pepe: Saint Nic Is Back

[hydrofluoric acid]

I think the next manager will come in and have the same issue with Pepe. His mentality stinks and he is inconsistent. I bet the new manager will be like Arteta at first, trying every single trick in the book to light a fire under Pepe's ass, but in the end, it will end the same as before, in tears for everybody!

 

[AberGooner]

I think the only thing almost forcing Arteta to keep him in and around the side for as long as he did was that he was near enough the only source of goals, be it by scoring or assisting.

Now that the likes of ESR and Ødegaard are chipping in, he doesn't really have to go with someone he doesn't rate.

 

[Macho]

Yeah I mean at this point unless Arteta leaves tomorrow I think Pepe is dead at Arsenal.

I personally think last season proved that if he's given a good run in the team that he can produce (he's not perfect but nobody can convince me he's rubbish)

Pretty much this really. People ignore it and still talk down his contributions at the end of both his previous seasons but whatever.

Arteta has seen the Pepe questions so threw him a pity sub, I am glad he didn’t care. He’s been there done that and nobody can blame him for checking out.

 

[Tourbillion]

I don't rate him at all but he'd probably excel for Liverpool or Chelsea.

 

[lomekian]

The problem with Pepe is the total lack of consistency in game and between games, and an alarming lack of engagement at times. Raw talent wise. he is very special indeed, but there are games and periods of games where he plays like he's stoned. It doesn't help his cause that since he's joined us, he's been largely excellent from March onwards, but largely pony from September to late January. I really want it to work with him because, on form, he is an end product machine, but off form he can be a liability.

I thought his improved work rate after Xmas last season was a turning point, and was rewarded with games and goals, but apart from the first couple of fixtures, he's stunk the place out whenever he's been on the pitch this season.

Clearly neither Arteta or Emery are the right coach for him.

 

[krackpot]

One little duck went out one day.
Over the hill and far away.
Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack.”
But none of the little ducks came back.

 

[razörist]

One little duck went out one day.
Over the hill and far away.
Mother duck said, “Quack, quack, quack, quack.”
But none of the little ducks came back.

 

[Macho]

It doesn't help his cause that since he's joined us, he's been largely excellent from March onwards, but largely pony from September to late January. I really want it to work with him because, on form, he is an end product machine, but off form he can be a liability.

He doesn’t start consistently during September to Jan and never really has for Arsenal. These cameos are all he gets until one of Saka or ESR break down. If you’re judging him purely on these subs then fair enough, but he hasn’t started in the league in over 2 months.

Hoping Martinelli stays ahead of him, because regardless of what he does, he was cheap and he gets a lot more patience from everybody.

 

[Trilly]

Arteta has seen the Pepe questions so threw him a pity sub

When all is said and done and Mikel is outed as the sociopathic narcissist he is it will come out that he only subbed him in because it was raining.

Mikel is that petty.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

Unfortunately my brain can’t comprehend two sentences of straight waffle, let alone a few paragraphs of turd especially at this time. I read the first and last sentence like I do with all you woeful posters then decided to roll up a spliff as that’s what I’ll put you in, fool.

lol. How old are you, mate?

Also who is ranting? I’m here backing Pepe yet it’s funny as you’re the same lad who was ranting the other day, disgracefully calling our manager a basque dog which was totally uncalled for. Mans got froth in his mouth but is trying to call out others, pipe down.

Disgracefully calling our manager a basque dog
I call him Basque God / Basque dog depending on how happy I am with him, it's just a stupid, unserious joke /schtick appropriate for a football forum (and a nod to the fact that I too can be overly reactive to our results with my feelings about the manager / the person most responsible for our fate)...that is, unless you take yourself all together too seriously...which the lines above sure would suggest haha.

You said Saka was more effective than Pepe on the RW but whenever I’ve watched Saka on the right

Saka has been better on the right than he has been on the left for basque dog (). Anyways, you're attempting to shift the goal posts, as I said, Saka is better on the right than Pepe, and no one is disputing that. Unless maybe you'd like to educate me on why that statement is wrong

As for the left-right point, if you have some evidence for your claims that we have a side bias this season in attack I'd be interested. I don't see it...in build-up even, in fact it feels to me we may play slightly more down the right this season than the left. Again, if you think back on the goals from open play this season there doesn't seem to be much evidence for you claim either. Given that Pepe had quite a few starts at RW last season--guessing probably at least half of the season?--this also wouldn't be very convenient for your agenda, that we had a left-side bias in a season where he was quite involved and not one in one he isn't.

Not sure why it bothers people so much that some people think Pepe would do better in a different team/system. Is it that outrageous a claim to make?

Not at all, but that's true of so many players. So what? Why the interest in the basically obvious fact that goes without saying just in the case of this player, but not in the rest?

Guy played for Emery in free fall, Freddie, and then two seasons of Arteta suffer ball while being in and out of the team. Is that an excuse or fact?

So did Auba, so did Saka, Xhaka etc. etc...but again, I don't see you campaigning for them and their cause in their threads...

Regardless, if you disagree then ok. But why come in here just to complain that some people like him.

If this is a reference to me, I just opened this thread and saw a post from @Troopz with an amazingly smug and glib tone, citing a fanboy's twitter account and a graph that absolutely doesn't show what he was making it out to show in such absolute terms. As I like talking about football, as that's why I'm on a football forum, and I saw an extremely smug post that struck me to have major flaws in logic and football sense, I decided to respond. The combination of smugness and a post that doesn't really seem to know what it's talking about or purports to be showing something it is not is a killer combination and hard to not respond to.

I think you well know I have no personal issue with Pepe, at the end of last season and into the early parts of this season I was convinced he should be an important part of the team. Though, I think even I was guilty of overrating the actual value of a player like him / the uniqueness of his abilities, as I said before Martinelli was introduced into the team in the transfer rumour thread:

That said, you guys have overrated him, or overrated the value / rarity in the market of a player with significant deficiencies like him. I'm not sure there's that much difference, for instance, in Pepe and Martinelli's value, should Martinelli be given a run of games.

in the end, I think it's just not as complicated as you lot make out...we have 4 options for the positions left and right of our 10 (5 I suppose, if you consider Auba wide of Laca), and Pepe is probably the 4th best or 5th best of those options.

As I said in that thread, quick, inverted wingers with flaws in their game like Pepe who can produce good end product given the right circumstances abound and Pepe is really just not as special as you guys make out, or as much of a rarity / asset in the market. He's a player we overpaid drastically for and who two managers made the right decision not to build their plans around, as you guys seem to suggest we should...a couple of cool nutmegs doesn't really change that.

 

[2Smokeyy]

lol. How old are you, mate?


Disgracefully calling our manager a basque dog
I call him Basque God / Basque dog depending on how happy I am with him, it's just a stupid, unserious joke /schtick appropriate for a football forum (and a nod to the fact that I too can be overly reactive to our results with my feelings about the manager / the person most responsible for our fate)...that is, unless you take yourself all together too seriously...which the lines above sure would suggest haha.


Saka has been better on the right than he has been on the left for basque dog (). Anyways, you're attempting to shift the goal posts, as I said, Saka is better on the right than Pepe, and no one is disputing that. Unless maybe you'd like to educate me on why that statement is wrong

As for the left-right point, if you have some evidence for your claims that we have a side bias this season in attack I'd be interested. I don't see it...in build-up even, in fact it feels to me we may play slightly more down the right this season than the left. Again, if you think back on the goals from open play this season there doesn't seem to be much evidence for you claim either. Given that Pepe had quite a few starts at RW last season--guessing probably at least half of the season?--this also wouldn't be very convenient for your agenda, that we had a left-side bias in a season where he was quite involved and not one in one he isn't.

If this is a reference to me, I just opened this thread and saw a post from @Troopz with an amazingly smug and glib tone, citing a fanboy's twitter account and a graph that absolutely doesn't show what he was making it out to show in such absolute terms. As I like talking about football, as that's why I'm on a football forum, and I saw an extremely smug post that struck me to have major flaws in logic and football sense, I decided to respond. The combination of smugness and a post that doesn't really seem to know what it's talking about or purports to be showing something it is not is a killer combination and hard to not respond to.

I think you well know I have no personal issue with Pepe, at the end of last season and into the early parts of this season I was convinced he should be an important part of the team. Though, I think even I was guilty of overrating the actual value of a player like him / the uniqueness of his abilities, as I said before Martinelli was introduced into the team in the transfer rumour thread:

I see what you done there, you literally waited it out until we beat Southampton to crawl out of your dungeon. Classy. Very classy, indeed but I expected that from you.

Anyways, I’m old and wise enough to refrain from calling someone a “ basque dog” even though I’m one of those that despises our manager but keep on doing your thing with your flip flop opinion.

Did I read that correctly? I’m shifting the goalposts? How so? If you read my post, I said whenever I’ve watched Saka on the right he has struggled as has Martinelli which could possibly be down to a number of factors such as not being their natural positions or having a CB playing as a RB, short term it could do a job but in the long term it’ll get found out against decent opposition. This has nothing to do with Pepe but you seem obsessed with him for some reason. Anyways, I already predicted a few weeks ago that playing Tomiyasu who I actually like but is clearly not as effective as a RB as he is a CB will be one of talking points on here come the end of the season as Chambers/Bellerin were last summer.

Last season we had side bias and there are stats out there to support my claim as it was obvious as soon as the Tierney/Auba combination down the left was pinpointed by the opposition, we were struggling and lacking ideas in many other areas of the pitch. Willian, Pepe, Saka, Auba etc all struggled to make an impact from the right hand side. In terms of this season, I haven’t checked the stats regarding the side bias but the games I’ve watched it’s clear to see that we’re struggling to create chances in general whether that’s on the left, through the middle or the right but I’m certain come the end of the season this will be one of the issues that we’ll have to address regardless of whether Arteta is in charge or not.

 

[AbouCuéllar]

I see what you done there, you literally waited it out until we beat Southampton to crawl out of your dungeon. Classy. Very classy, indeed but I expected that from you.

I didn't watch Southampton nor does it change much my view of Mikel--maybe I'll start to see him a bit differently if we ge at least 7/9 from these next few games, including 3/3 from West Ham, with good performance level.

Anyways, I’m old and wise enough to refrain from calling someone a “ basque dog” even though I’m one of those that despises our manager but keep on doing your thing with your flip flop opinion.

lol okay. All that big man posturing about rolling people on splifs and whatnot...

Yeah, I'll gladly admit I'm a flip flopper as far as our Basque Dog / God is concerned. I badly want him to do well because I loved him as a player and character for us and always felt he had the makings of a top manager (aside from being a fan of Guardiolismo and managers with a strong character, and keen to have one like this of our very own), but I'm also not blind and watch the football on offer with attention. Classic heart, brain dissonance, plus being an optimist and wanting to believe in him. All that = Arteta flip flopper. Which is precisely what I'm having a light-hearted wink to when I call him Basque Dog or Basque God depending on fortunes.

Did I read that correctly? I’m shifting the goalposts? How so? If you read my post, I said whenever I’ve watched Saka on the right he has struggled as has Martinelli which could possibly be down to a number of factors such as not being their natural positions or having a CB playing as a RB, short term it could do a job but in the long term it’ll get found out against decent opposition. This has nothing to do with Pepe but you seem obsessed with him for some reason. Anyways, I already predicted a few weeks ago that playing Tomiyasu who I actually like but is clearly not as effective as a RB as he is a CB will be one of talking points on here come the end of the season as Chambers/Bellerin were last summer.

All I said was that Saka on the RW > Pepe on the RW. Then you said that Saka suffers on the RW too. That's why I say shifting the goalposts. Maintaining them would've been explaining to me why Pepe is better than Saka on the RW, or perhaps why it's worth it to play both Saka and Pepe with one of them out of position on the LW ahead of other options.

Last season we had side bias and there are stats out there to support my claim as it was obvious as soon as the Tierney/Auba combination down the left was pinpointed by the opposition, we were struggling and lacking ideas in many other areas of the pitch. Willian, Pepe, Saka, Auba etc all struggled to make an impact from the right hand side. In terms of this season, I haven’t checked the stats regarding the side bias but the games I’ve watched it’s clear to see that we’re struggling to create chances in general whether that’s on the left, through the middle or the right but I’m certain come the end of the season this will be one of the issues that we’ll have to address regardless of whether Arteta is in charge or not.

Yeah, nothing I said disputes this, and much of it repeats. Like I said, there having been a left sided bias in the team the season that Pepe was heavily involved on the RW, and there not being one in the season where he isn't involved, is not convenient for your agenda anyways.

 

[Trilly]

So did Auba, so did Saka, Xhaka etc. etc...but again, I don't see you campaigning for them and their cause in their threads...

I do/have.

Xhaka hasn’t been done any favours by any manager he’s played under, Mikel has probably done the best job out of all them in terms of protecting him.

I didn’t have to defend Auba during Emery’s bad period because everyone remembered what he was doing just months prior and tbh even during Emery’s worst he was always pretty good at getting the best out of Auba/Laca. He never wanted Pepe on the RW.

As for Saka I’ve stated multiple times that he was more effective under Emery (stats prove this last time I checked) and that Arteta is lucky that he’s a young player who is going to do some natural improvement regardless of who is his manager, I’ve also stated in the past that Arteta is fortunate that ESR and Saka have a limited/non existent sample size of their performances before he came in.

Besides those two there is clear evidence that every attacking player has gotten worse under Arteta. Even Pepe went from a top four dribbler in the entire league (in his debut season!) to whatever the hell he is now due to Arteta.

Lastly no, I wasn’t referring to you re:complaining that people rate Pepe!

 

[2Smokeyy]

I didn't watch Southampton nor does it change much my view of Mikel--maybe I'll start to see him a bit differently if we ge at least 7/9 from these next few games, including 3/3 from West Ham, with good performance level.


lol okay. All that big man posturing about rolling people on splifs and whatnot...

Yeah, I'll gladly admit I'm a flip flopper as far as our Basque Dog / God is concerned. I badly want him to do well because I loved him as a player and character for us and always felt he had the makings of a top manager (aside from being a fan of Guardiolismo and managers with a strong character, and keen to have one like this of our very own), but I'm also not blind and watch the football on offer with attention. Classic heart, brain dissonance, plus being an optimist and wanting to believe in him. All that = Arteta flip flopper. Which is precisely what I'm having a light-hearted wink to when I call him Basque Dog or Basque God depending on fortunes.


All I said was that Saka on the RW > Pepe on the RW. Then you said that Saka suffers on the RW too. That's why I say shifting the goalposts. Maintaining them would've been explaining to me why Pepe is better than Saka on the RW, or perhaps why it's worth it to play both Saka and Pepe with one of them out of position on the LW ahead of other options.

This post sums you up, really. You say alot but say nothing at the same time you just seem to be going around in circles and flip flopping which isn’t for me, so either say something that’ll be worthwhile me reading or pipe down.

Good performance level? How likely is that when we haven’t seen that in Arteta’s reign here at Arsenal, I can literally count in one hand the amount of decent to good performances that we’ve had. So, I guess that means you won’t be seeing him differently in a long time.

It’s hard to make a case for Pepe vs Saka at the moment as I feel Pepe isn’t being used correctly but you could also argue that it isn’t Saka’s natural position, not in my opinion anyways. All of this is irrelevant tbf as like I said before, the differences between our attacking options (Saka, Pepe, Martinelli etc) on the RW are minimal and nothing to be boasting about. They’ve all struggled on the right as have the rest of our attackers in various other positions which is evident in our chance creation and negative GD. We have the same amount of goal scored as Watford who are sitting 17th in table.

 

[2Smokeyy]

Yeah, nothing I said disputes this, and much of it repeats. Like I said, there having been a left sided bias in the team the season that Pepe was heavily involved on the RW, and there not being one in the season where he isn't involved, is not convenient for your agenda anyways.

That’s a woeful theory. So what are you suggesting that Pepe being omitted from our first eleven has balanced our attack? Or this left sided bias? If that’s the game you’d like to play then I could easily do the same thing and suggest that this left sided bias hasn’t been that noticeable as we’ve literally been creating one chance a game this season.

Like I said in my post above, our attack this season has been dreadful and nothing to be boasting about but if people want to use Pepe as a scapegoat to boost up an average season for Saka’s standards that he’s had so far then be my guest.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

I think the next manager will come in and have the same issue with Pepe. His mentality stinks and he is inconsistent. I bet the new manager will be like Arteta at first, trying every single trick in the book to light a fire under Pepe's ass, but in the end, it will end the same as before, in tears for everybody!

I hope you are wrong, but fear you are not. Pepe is a player that really flatters to deceive. The only saving grace , which is a big one, is that he has goals and assists in him. But apart from that he doesn't provide much. He is a killer for fluidity in the build up and for recycling the ball.

 

[UpTheGunnerz]

I’m seeing Lazio, Benfica. Valencia, Lyon or Milan for Pepe. Decent teams on par with Assna, but not elite

 

[Aussie_gunner123]

I like Pepe & I see good potential in him playing in his right position but I understand why people dislike him but why blame himself for his price? It's certainly not his fault we signed him for 90 but barely give him a good go & we will sell him for under 30-40. No wonder we should get rid of Edu, get Overmars from Ajax instead.

 

[Red London]

I want him to go to Italy. I think he will do well there and can play for a top4 team who get into CL most seasons.

AC Milan or something like that.

 

[Deleted member 98559]

I want him to go to Italy. I think he will do well there and can play for a top4 team who get into CL most seasons.

AC Milan or something like that.

He will do well in the PL, not with Arsenal though. He could use freedom like Zaha at Palace without the manager being on his back every time he touches the ball.

Newcastle would be the best option for everyone IMO