Nicolas Pepe: Saint Nic Is Back

[A_G]

 

[Macho]

Idiot. Pepe that is.

 

[Macho]

It read like the thoughts of a drunken man. Couldn’t even follow it.

If the unprovoked benching for Willian or the whole sending off v Leeds didn’t make it clear then the almost visible frost between the two should show you the relationship there is far from great. Not sure why that bothers you so much.

Jury rambling about nothing as per.

Haven't seen a single person bemoan Arteta over Pepe at this stage, even his biggest backers are kinda like it is what it is now - we move. It's mostly the usual since last night, he's a dumb player and inferior to Saka, etc.

At the most Trax has criticised the financial aspects of this.

 

[El Duderino]

Yet, Cedric is at the club and got so many opportunities...

(Swear I'm not memeing)

 

[Makingtrax]

Straight from the Arteta book of management techniques. Chapter 3 'How to get the best out of your most expensive players:'

1. Air their problems in public
2. Severely limit their game time
3. Broadcast that you want them to be unhappy

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Yeah, Arsenal reserves until 28 then free transfer to Trabzonspor FC methinks.

Damn this is sad, there was once a time when you couldn't wait for him to leave Arsenal and go to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich since that was his true level. He's really let his supporters down.

 

[Macho]

Damn this is sad, there was once a time when you couldn't wait for him to leave Arsenal and go to Real Madrid or Bayern Munich since that was his true level. He's really let his supporters down.

I've wanted him to go back to France actually. Napoli would have been a good move for him had Arsenal not got involved.

Not many players really come back from this situation though.

 

[Rex Stone]

Yeah, Arsenal reserves until 28 then free transfer to Trabzonspor FC methinks.

That’s tough

 

[BigPoppaPump]

I've wanted him to go back to France actually. Napoli would have been a good move for him had Arsenal not got involved.

Not many players really come back from this situation though.

No way Napoli has 72m for a player though, shows that he was never worth that much. This is all because Raul wanted line his pockets up, they see English clubs coming from a mile away.

 

[grange]

I want to see Pepe given some time in the PL without Auba playing. See how he gets on with the team.

 

[Macho]

No way Napoli has 72m for a player though, shows that he was never worth that much. This is all because Raul wanted line his pockets up, they see English clubs coming from a mile away.

Ye ye truss

 

[TornadoTed]

I'd still like to see Pepe tried as a striker but I don't think it will ever happen. I am sure he would score as many as Lacazette, I don't know if he could link up as well though, if he could it would save us a fortune.

 

[Sanchez11]

Hes the best player in the box we have imo

 

[Goonerwether]

We're having the same hypothetical conversations about position changes for Pepe that we had about Walcott.

We should have sold Walcott 3 years before we did.

 

[Jury]

Waste of time, Tomi offers him absolutely nothing.

Look at all the attacks leading to goal, Cedric supports him and he looks a thousand times more comfortable having both the option to cut in or pass to Cedric on the overlap. Cedric is the only rb at the club who does this.

That’s all he’s ever needed and Arteta doesn’t want to play that way so, Pepe is done. Pepe and Arteta having zero rapport is obvious but speculation on my part, the footballing side is not and clear to see.

Pepe is clearly a fine player, just wrong system and a manager not willing to accommodate anybody (not just Pepe) which is fair enough. I have zero issues with Pepe’s lack of playing time.

I think you’re drawing a bit too much from a game against Sunderland ffs! How many times has Tomi played with Pepe? ‘Waste of time!!’

The fans overdo the consistency of the likes of Saka and ESR though, plenty of weeks when they are serving up bricks but we just accept it.

At the end of the day they’re producing. Nobody expects them to play to the same high level every week. Saka’s had no rest and this is ESR’s first season and he’s been the talk of our team and the player oppo fans and pundits are raving about…

How can you even attempt to throw shade on those two to put Pepe in a different, positive light? You say you haven’t got a problem with him not playing but then you say stuff like that?

It was nice to see, but it was Sunderland, just as you’d point out it was some other **** team if the shoe was on the other foot.

 

[Jury]

It read like the thoughts of a drunken man. Couldn’t even follow it.

If the unprovoked benching for Willian or the whole sending off v Leeds didn’t make it clear then the almost visible frost between the two should show you the relationship there is far from great. Not sure why that bothers you so much.

‘Unprovoked’ benching of Willian?

I was an advocate of the player, but you’re saying I sounded drunk? What happened to aRteTas fAvOuRitE Willian?

Love how that narrative conveniently shifted!

You and @Macho make this thread borderline unreadable Like two crackheads waffling pipedreams to each other in a squat

 

[RunTheTrap]

Waste of time, Tomi offers him absolutely nothing.

Look at all the attacks leading to goal, Cedric supports him and he looks a thousand times more comfortable having both the option to cut in or pass to Cedric on the overlap. Cedric is the only rb at the club who does this.

That’s all he’s ever needed and Arteta doesn’t want to play that way so, Pepe is done. Pepe and Arteta having zero rapport is obvious but speculation on my part, the footballing side is not and clear to see.

Pepe is clearly a fine player, just wrong system and a manager not willing to accommodate anybody (not just Pepe) which is fair enough. I have zero issues with Pepe’s lack of playing time.

The fans overdo the consistency of the likes of Saka and ESR though, plenty of weeks when they are serving up bricks but we just accept it.

1) Pepe has played games with Bellerin and AMN and his performances still sucked. You could give Pepe prime Dani Alves and it’s not gonna improve his lacklustre fundamentals.


2) Because they’re aged 20 and 21 respectively. Saka started playing mens football 2 years ago, ESR just coming up to one year. Pepe is 26 and began his football career at Poitevin when he was 18. Is it not fair to expect consistency from an older and more established player than a younger one?

 

[Impact]

No way Napoli has 72m for a player though, shows that he was never worth that much. This is all because Raul wanted line his pockets up, they see English clubs coming from a mile away.

The same Napoli that had 70m rising to 80m for Lille the next summer to sign Victor Osimhen?

In any case, Pepe had a typical Pepe performance yesterday. A few moments of outrageous natural ability against a backdrop of technical inconsistency and positional/tactical naivety. I say that as a fan of his.

Pepe suits a team that focuses on transitions/counter attacks. In such a set up, you are judged primarily by your ability to contribute goal actions. Yesterday he got a goal and two assists. Brilliant, you'd think? The problem is in Arteta's scheme, sustaining pressure high up the pitch is absolutely key to chance creation (beyond set-pieces and chances created via build-up from the back). In this type of team, Pepe's maverick nature becomes problematic. You never know what you're going to get from him. A missed touch, a sloppy pass, a poor action selection etc. All of that contributes to disrupting the flow of play (stops you creating chances) and gives opportunities to the opposition to attack you in transition (where you are most dangerous). You don't get that with Saka and that perhaps owes to his training in the Arsenal academy. Then you have the issues with his defensive work where even though he tries hard, his understand of where to be and how to press (blocking passing lanes when pressing etc) is limited. You saw it when his poor positioning led to a Sunderland chance and a blocking from Ben White yesterday. Against better opposition, you get punished there.

In sum, he's a good player that is not a good fit. Also, it's interesting that the figure brought up to discuss Pepe is 72m. Is he the only PL player we talk about his price tag in euro terms? His fee was in and around £60ish million. It's still a big sum of money but it's a lot closer to the sums paid for Auba and Laca.

 

[Macho]

1) Pepe has played games with Bellerin and AMN and his performances still sucked. You could give Pepe prime Dani Alves and it’s not gonna improve his lacklustre fundamentals.

Not true, he's had good and bad performances like everybody else and both names never overlapped as rbs under Arteta.

Whilst everybody is falling over themselves over Martinelli nutmegging guys and scoring aginst Leeds U18s, Pepe's already done that stuff and scored double digits in the league. I can't help what people choose to see or choose to celebrate.

2) Because they’re aged 20 and 21 respectively. Saka started playing mens football 2 years ago, ESR just coming up to one year. Pepe is 26 and began his football career at Poitevin when he was 18. Is it not fair to expect consistency from an older and more established player than a younger one?

Think it's bullsh*t personally, they are starting for Arsenal football club. If you are starting it means you are supposed to be at the club.

Pepe, Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Laca, Auba, whoever, are all equally responsible for our league finishes and the direct reason as to why Arsenal has a cap for whatever they can actually achieve in the league.

I know a lot of you guys like to place blame on some and heap praise on others, but that's just the real of it.

To be frank there's nothing to debate about anyways, Pepe is finished here. If you play him in cups, he scores and assists - we've known that since his first season.

 

[Macho]

I think you’re drawing a bit too much from a game against Sunderland ffs! How many times has Tomi played with Pepe? ‘Waste of time!!’


At the end of the day they’re producing. Nobody expects them to play to the same high level every week. Saka’s had no rest and this is ESR’s first season and he’s been the talk of our team and the player oppo fans and pundits are raving about…

How can you even attempt to throw shade on those two to put Pepe in a different, positive light? You say you haven’t got a problem with him not playing but then you say stuff like that?

It was nice to see, but it was Sunderland, just as you’d point out it was some other **** team if the shoe was on the other foot.

Whoever plays right wing for us will have good games and bad games because it's a hard role, our attack has a left sided bias and the RB role is specific. My point has always been consistent, that's not shade.

Pepe doesn't fit in, that's mostly Pepe's and the club's fault prior to Arteta. There's stuff that makes him work and we choose not to do it, because it's not about him it's about what Arteta wants, that's football.

Furthermore, whatever he did wouldn't have changed the minds of the fans or Arteta even if it was Liverpool in a prem match last night, so not sure what your last point is about.

Also not sure what positive light you've seen me put Pepe in, I've linked him to a Turkish side and have openly given up on his Arsenal career.