Nicolas Pepe: The Nutmeg Express!

[carlito'sway]

He was coming inro form at the end of last season bro. No manager worth a his pay packet then spends £200m a week on an ageing pensioner on a 3 year contract to put him on the back foot again. It's bullsh!t. Pepe couldn't get into the side again and has wasted a whole other season playing intermittently to come back into form.

Mikel's got virtually nothing right this year including his handling of Pepe. If you hadn't noticed we're 8th again. 8th, Arsenal 8th. And out of Europe, with players like Auba, Pepe and an in form Saka. They should have been smashing them in.

I was on the Arteta bandwagon since he joined Pep at City. I was pleased when took over from Emery. Having said that, I truly wonder now if he is the right man for this club. His man management has been dubious to say the lease, including this Pepe situation. Who in his right mind would give a 3 yr deal to William, a complete over the hill player? I was shocked when we bought him from CFC. I am willing to give Mikel one more year but no more. If we can't get to Europe next year and with a better product on the field, he can take a hike.

 

[Moah]

He is statistically the best player of the season right? Yet you don't see half the criticisms that go on here on any other player's thread.

He may need to improve his game but lets not act like he doesn't do well when it matters. He had an assist on both the semi-final and final of the FA cup last season, scored on both quarter final games of Europa this season(One coming of the bench) and he was the best player on the first leg of the semi finals too.

And for the other games that matter he didn't start most of them.

 

[RunTheTrap]

I don't really like Pepe but if Auba has fallen off a cliff, we are really going to have to lean into Pepe for us to have a good season. Arteta needs to swallow his pride and get Pepe in our team as much as possible. We are not good enough as a team to say no to goal scorers. This also applies to Martinelli and Willock. His overall play will be shoddy and I doubt he'll ever be truly consistent but we're just gonna have to meet in the middle with him.

 

[Jury]

If he wanted to light a fire under Pepe he could have used Nelson, ESR and Saka to bench him while letting him know he needs to do better.

You don’t sign an experienced player on big wages to light a fire under a player. That’s a clear attempt to bury the player, come on now.

That’s not what I said happened though. I didn’t give that as the reason he signed Pepe. I stated clearly the reason I think Arteta went after Willian, for what that’s worth. I said if it affected Pepe in any way at all, it seemed to light a fire under him.

Who knows or who cares how it affected him? All we know is he performed whenever he got the chance, contrary to the reports from the sports psychologists on AM, who had him down as a basket case and also observed that he went backwards (more convenient fantasy from @Makingstories, granted) when we signed Willian...

 

[GDeep™]

Finished last season strong and was dumped at the start of this season. Do we think that will happen again? I say yes, finished this season strong but won’t start next season.

Should be a poll question.

 

[Gooner416]

Finished last season strong and was dumped at the start of this season. Do we think that will happen again? I say yes, finished this season strong but won’t start next season.

Should be a poll question.

One would think he's a nailed on starter with how he's finished this season but anything can happen with Bashar al-Arteta.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

"Finished the last season strong"

One goal in his final 10 league games that season and two assists in the semi and the final of the cup, he performed okay but nothing special.

In comparison he has actually finished this season very strongly.

4 G\A in the quarter finals and semi finals of the EL.
And finished up with 5 goals in his last 3 games in the league season, along with back to back braces.

 

[Macho]

Finished last season strong and was dumped at the start of this season. Do we think that will happen again?

100%.

Pepe doesn't have to be for him, but he has to do better than Willian this time. Depending on who comes in for no.10, Saka and ESR could easily be our wide options for the flanks.

 

[HairSprayGooners]

100%.

Can we get your tagline changed to spreading negativity and fear for all to hear?

 

[Macho]

Can we get your tagline changed to spreading negativity and fear for all to hear?

Read my post, it wasn't negative.

It's his squad, he doesn't have to use Pepe - but he needs a better reason this time. When Saka made Pepe take a seat the complaints were minimal, or am I lying?

 

[HairSprayGooners]

Read my post, it wasn't negative.

It's his squad, if he doesn't have to use Pepe - but he needs to be a better reason this time. When Saka made Pepe take a seat the complaints were minimal or am I lying?

Just think the comparison between the last two league finishes from Pepe have been chalk and cheese and he'll be our starting RW going into next season.

 

[Macho]

Just think the comparison between the last two league finishes from Pepe have been chalk and cheese and he'll be our starting RW going into next season.

I highly doubt it? but I'm wrong all the time lets see.

 

[Atlas]

I’m sure Arteta is going to start him from next season. I would like to believe that Arteta has got Pepe playing the way he wants him to and is now ready to go for it.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

I’m sure Arteta is going to start him from next season. I would like to believe that Arteta has got Pepe playing the way he wants him to and is now ready to go for it.

Nope. Arteta is going to try and murder Pepe this summer.

 

[Tom349]

Its taken a while but I think I've finally worked out the player Pepe is and the player we should expect going forward. For 72m I was expecting and hoping he would develop into a goal scorer who would have his defender second guessing himself all game, but the reality is a lot different.

He is certainly a goal scorer but the rest of his game is incredibly weak, he looks good dribbling but he is awful at it, occasionally it comes of but more often then not results in the opposition winning it back. He is slow to make decisions on the ball and holds up the play and I think it's these areas is where it has gone wrong with him for both Emery and Arteta (minus the last month or so).

Emery supposedly wanted Zaha, who is basically the complete opposite. Awful end product (most of the time) but breath taking at his best when running at the opposition. Pepe like I said is capable of the odd dribble here and there but its fools gold, he is actually about as dangerous as Walcott was at running at his opponent. Arteta up until the last months or so was playing Pepe the same way as Emery tried and was using him for creativity as opposed to his end product. The shift in the last month of the season was Pepe receiving the ball less in the areas where he was tasked to create and more in the areas he was tasked to finish.

I still believe Pepe has what it takes to be a 20 goal a season wingman but in order to that to happen we need a change up top and for Pepe to continue to played in these areas which I think he will. The elephant in the room is Saka best position also happens to be the same spot and while he hasn't shown the same end product, his run of form in Jan/Feb was a potential glimpse of whats to come, which is better than anything Pepe has offered since arrival. Essentially during that time Saka showed that he could develop into the type of wingman who is making life a living hell for his opponent but also hurting them with end product.

 

[Sanchez11]

Pepe is a good player, some of you need to get over it!!

 

[Trilly]

Its taken a while but I think I've finally worked out the player Pepe is and the player we should expect going forward. For 72m I was expecting and hoping he would develop into a goal scorer who would have his defender second guessing himself all game, but the reality is a lot different.

He is certainly a goal scorer but the rest of his game is incredibly weak, he looks good dribbling but he is awful at it, occasionally it comes of but more often then not results in the opposition winning it back. He is slow to make decisions on the ball and holds up the play and I think it's these areas is where it has gone wrong with him for both Emery and Arteta (minus the last month or so).

Emery supposedly wanted Zaha, who is basically the complete opposite. Awful end product (most of the time) but breath taking at his best when running at the opposition. Pepe like I said is capable of the odd dribble here and there but its fools gold, he is actually about as dangerous as Walcott was at running at his opponent. Arteta up until the last months or so was playing Pepe the same way as Emery tried and was using him for creativity as opposed to his end product. The shift in the last month of the season was Pepe receiving the ball less in the areas where he was tasked to create and more in the areas he was tasked to finish.

I still believe Pepe has what it takes to be a 20 goal a season wingman but in order to that to happen we need a change up top and for Pepe to continue to played in these areas which I think he will. The elephant in the room is Saka best position also happens to be the same spot and while he hasn't shown the same end product, his run of form in Jan/Feb was a potential glimpse of whats to come, which is better than anything Pepe has offered since arrival. Essentially during that time Saka showed that he could develop into the type of wingman who is making life a living hell for his opponent but also hurting them with end product.

Awful

 

[Bloodbather]

Tbf though Lille sold him and won the league the season after, maybe he’s just not this world class player you think and just came from a great set up? Don’t look like they miss him much.

But they didn’t become title winning teams until we bought their players though.

Lille just have great recruitment. They always find great replacements. They sold Gabriel to us and recruited Sven Botman as his replacement and he's been just as good. Sold Victor Osimhen and replaced him with Jonathan David and Burak Yılmaz, and both have been great.

Also worth noting, they won the title on the strength of their defense this season. Monaco and Lyon both scored 10+ more goals than them. They were actually pretty rough to watch offensively, they wouldn't have won it had it not been for the late season heroics of Burak Yılmaz. They'd probably win the league even more handily if Pépé was still there.

 

[Tom349]

Awful

What are you angry about? The eye test and most stats back up that Pepe is awful outside of the penalty box (or just outside of it).

 

[Trilly]

Don’t know what it is about Pepe that has made it so difficult for a small minority of fans to admit they were wrong about him. Being as bad of a dribbler as Walcott is just a new low.

You can just tell they’ll be out for blood if he doesn’t win the golden boot next season.