Nicolas Pepe: The Nutmeg Express!

[BigPoppaPump]

I mean we spent 50m on Partey, who was one of the best DMs, and he became a meme under Arteta.
No expensive signing will save us.

Most of us never watch Atletico games we only saw him vs Liverpool in the CL that time where he was good. He wasn't even a guaranteed starter at Atletico and they'd put him at RB in games. He's not even a DM he's more box-to-box. I want to like him but watching him play he's so bad sometimes, not even the managers instructions just simple stuff like passing.

 

[HaffBR]

His offensive output was never good acc Macro Football: Nicolas Pepe | Macro-Football
Nothing to suggest he is a good player acc Statsbomb: Nicolas Pépé Estatísticas | FBref.com

 

[Trilly]

Imagine we spent that 72m on Ruben Dias or someone that actually made us better? The money we spent on this guy set us back so many years and he isn't even good.

Arteta has a multiple golden boot winner, a guy who outscored Lewandowski in the Bundesliga, a guy who was our fastest ever to 50 goals, a guy who until recently had outscored every player in the league since joining...Arteta has that guy about to finish the season with like 10 league goals.

Your tag is point out the obvious but you’re missing it here! Open your eyes mate.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Arteta has a multiple golden boot winner, a guy who outscored Lewandowski in the Bundesliga, a guy who was our fastest ever to 50 goals, a guy who until recently had outscored every player in the league since joining...Arteta has that guy about to finish the season with like 10 league goals.

Your tag is point out the obvious but you’re missing it here! Open your eyes mate.

You were riding for Arteta until recently, telling this to me who never wanted him in the first place and has always been his biggest naysayer. Arteta is a war criminal.

 

[UpTheGunnerz]

The best of Pepe is still to come imo Cliff

 

[MA08]

We should sell him soon. He struggles to hold the ball up and loses it far too easily. His technique is poor for a 72 million signing. I doubt he is going to get better.

 

[Ivan the Gooner]

He's one of our top passers of the ball.....to the opposition.

 

[Macho]

He's one of our top passers of the ball.....to the opposition.

Spoiler: Funny enough...he's not really

Couple disclaimers:

- This is for Premiership 20/21 only
- I didn't take minutes and appearances into account
- I hope unsuccessful passes includes aimless crosses
- For any doubts where the data comes from:

Statistics are supplied by the renowned Opta team who painstakingly measure every kick, tackle and pass made in the Premier League. Opta supply their data to Premier League managers and now we are looking to make this data available to you to aid your Fantasy Football selections.

 

[samspade]

Spoiler: Funny enough...he's not really

View attachment 2945

View attachment 2946

View attachment 2947

Couple disclaimers:

- This is for Premiership 20/21 only
- I didn't take minutes and appearances into account
- I hope unsuccessful passes includes aimless crosses
- For any doubts where the data comes from:

Need the per 90 stats to compare.

 

[Macho]

Need the per 90 stats to compare.

There aren't many places that compile mistakes per 90 I'm afraid. xG and xA - yeah.

 

[samspade]

There aren't many places that compile mistakes per 90 I'm afraid. xG and xA - yeah.

Fair, must be minutes played around tho. If someone’s bothered enough

 

[Macho]

Fair, must be minutes played around tho. If someone’s bothered enough

I mean, Saka (29 starts, 2479 mins) has pretty much had double the starts and minutes as Pepe (14 starts, 1432 mins).. if it makes you feel better maybe you could argue Pepe loses the ball more per 90?

even then, Pepe being dispossessed 18 times to Saka's 39 that's even hard to argue tbh. Not to mention we see Saka get double teamed and stuff, this is probably just a consequence of playing as a wide player.

End of the day I know people don't like him etc, you can turn the numbers sideways or however you like, Pepe giving the ball away the most is clearly exaggerated. He's not even the worst in this team in that regard - plain and simple really.

 

[samspade]

View attachment 2949

I mean, Saka (29 starts, 2479 mins) has had double the starts Pepe (14 starts, 1432 mins) has and pretty much twice the minutes.. if it makes you feel better maybe you could argue Pepe loses the ball more per 90?

even then Pepe being dispossessed 18 times to Saka's 39 that's even hard to argue tbh. Not to mention we see Saka get double teamed and stuff, this is probably just a consequence of playing as a wide player.

End of the day I know people don't like him etc, you can turn the numbers sideways or however you like, Pepe giving the ball away the most is clearly exaggerated. He's not even the worst in this team in that regard - plain and simple really.

I’m a Pepe fan and forwards will give the ball away but tbh mate if he gives the ball away more than anyone else per 90 that is the key metric, case closed. Idc too much, I think he’s given us quite a bit of reward for his risk this season.

 

[Macho]

I’m a Pepe fan and forwards will give the ball away but tbh mate if he gives the ball away more than anyone else per 90 that is the key metric, case closed. Idc too much, I think he’s given us quite a bit of reward for his risk this season.

Fair enough. I'm sure that metric is somewhere and it's just my various subscriptions don't cover it.

Hair splitting stuff anyways, I just wanted too debunk another common myth surrounding this player that's all. As much as I sh*t on Arteta at every opportunity, I think the coaching staff has actually worked on Pepe's ball retention to the point where it's not a cause for concern in regards to his game.

If anything I wish he was more free, but he's kinda turned into Willian a bit to get into the team (Pepe actually passes backwards a lot).

 

[Trilly]

You were riding for Arteta until recently, telling this to me who never wanted him in the first place and has always been his biggest naysayer. Arteta is a war criminal.

I was riding for WHOMST?

 

[Red London]

Wtf happened here on pages 265-267 after the second leg, absolute ****ing handbags.

Pepe was our best attacker in the first leg and definitely not our worst in the second. I’m not sure why he was being targeted here. I said after the first and second leg to my friends that it’s funny how Saka won’t get mentioned but Pepe will get shat on and scapegoated, and I guess that ended up happening to an extent. He has definitely improved in 2021, and could keep pushing on next season.

Although I agree with the Pepe supporters on here on that one, I find it real childish that the earlier season Arteta backers and Pepe haters are being grouped together like it’s some sort of agenda. I’ve had time for Arteta this season (indifferent now), but still supported and had time for Pepe. It’s not one or the other, if you’re the one saying that then you probably have an agenda yourself, but you’re just on the other (perceived) side of it.

 

[Trilly]

Yeah there’s nothing wrong with being Arteta in, even now (although I would look at you sideways). Everyone’s entitled to their opinion and it’s only football at the end of the day.

It’s a certain very small subset of the Arteta-in group that deserve all the banter, and they definitely know who they are!

 

[Atlas]

I could see Pepe turning into an end product machine, one or two touches from goal and bang either score or set them up. He’s got a hell of a left foot and we know he scores goals. Question is whether Micky Arts ever sets us up in a way to get the best out of him,

 

[Football Manager]

Agree with that. But he can get close to the box and be dangerous from the left or right.

Just keep him narrow when running into passes - none of this Artetaball crossing horse ****.

I think we need a technically gifted CF to play guys like Pepe and Saka in on goal properly - a bit like JVP with Walcott next to him.

Agree with everything until I see walcott in there.

 

[Vanpayslip]

Some players are good at some stuff but not good at everything that is expected of their position. Pepe is one of those. It’s very obvious that his strength is his ability to get Ito scoring positions. He is one of those players that just instinctively comes alive around the opposition box. And he has the potential to be dangerous near the goal and outside the box. Other parts of his game are a average at best.

Arteta lives in a world with pixies and fairies. He couldn’t care less that in Auba and Pepe he has two players that can score big numbers over a season from wide. He just wants boring slow build up play with lots of passing being done by a midfield that isn’t really specialist at playing that boring way. Instead he could focus on what he has and how to get the best out of them but he doesn’t.