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Nicolas Pepe: The Nutmeg Express!

What would you do with Pepe?

  • Keep him for the foreseeable future

  • Give him one more season to prove himself

  • Sell if you can get a significant fee, keep otherwise

  • Sell at any price


Results are only viewable after voting.
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CH8XDHwBi9q


Did he post it because this because he felt he needed to or is this the new Arsenal Social media management team?
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Everything with Arsenal is mountains out of molehills, we had to deal with all that mascot nonsense and now people are making a meal out of this Pepe red card.
It’s because we’re SHÏT.

Everything is drama. I’m tired Robbie.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
That's not why he got sent off. Refs don't always give red cards for hard fouls. They do it when there's unsportsmanlike behavior, which is what Pepe did.

A defender can rent space in your head and it's up to you if you want to kick him out or let him stay there the whole game.
Most annoying thing is that he was the LB. I would have just been extra physical with him and caught him later a few times on the tackle.

Headbutt gives him the least pain and gets you the most punishment. Fair play to the play acting little b*tch, he must have said some stuff to get into his head.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
https://theathletic.co.uk/2214689/2020/11/23/pepe-arteta-arsenal-trust/

In his short time as a manager, Mikel Arteta has shown himself to be a very deliberate communicator. He does not choose his words lightly, and in the aftermath of Nicolas Pepe’s sending off against Leeds United, his message was as clear as it was concise: “It’s unacceptable”.

Arteta cited the fact that Pepe had “let the team down”, but his words appeared to betray the fact that he felt personally let down too. For the coach, this was a show of faith that backfired. For the player, another opportunity missed.

If Arteta was sure about regularly picking Pepe — if he truly trusted in his capabilities — he would already be doing so. The fact that this was only his second league start of the season shows the manager is far from convinced by the club’s record signing. The player had piped up during the international break, telling Canal+: “My goal is to play more. Have a little more playing time… it is frustrating for any player to be on the bench.”

Arteta’s concerns are no mystery to Pepe. “He wants me to be 100 per cent focused during the 90 minutes of the match,” the former Lille winger explained. But given Arsenal’s attacking issues, Arteta rolled the dice.

It’s easy to see how Arteta talked himself into picking Pepe. The player has impressed in the Europa League, and even in this match, he offered Arsenal’s most dangerous first-half moments, flashing one shot wide and seeing a stray cross hit the bar. In a team struggling for creativity, Pepe offers the promise of unpredictability, and so Arteta gave him a chance.

Well, Pepe threw that chance back in his face with considerably more force than he applied in his lean into Gjanni Alioski. It probably would’ve been easier to just trot over to the sidelines and nut his own manager.

Alioski and Pepe had been embroiled in a tussle two minutes before the sending off, but it was nothing to warrant such a reckless reaction. Alioski laid a trap, and Pepe walked into it. As for the decision, nobody on the Arsenal bench looked surprised. We live in a time where there are many grey areas within the interpretation of football’s laws — but not regarding what Pepe did. The consequences are clear.

The sense from the Leeds camp after the game was one of surprise that Pepe reacted to such meagre provocation. The kindest interpretation would be that he sensed the importance of the opportunity, and was overly wound-up in an attempt to impress.

“He stops his own progress with his own behaviour,” said Freddie Ljungberg in the Sky Sports studio. The Swede dropped Pepe in his first match as Arsenal’s interim head coach last season, and could not hide his disappointment. “I thought this game would be very good for Pepe: Leeds play man-to-man, he would get isolated with his left-back and he can do him, and he’s very good at that. I thought he would be a match-winner today, and instead, it ends up like this.”

Pepe will now miss matches against Wolves and Burnley, either side of a north London derby. One imagines Arteta will deliberate even further on whether to recall him once that period is through.

Emotions run high after an incident like that. The truth is that Arteta and Arsenal can not afford to suddenly jettison Pepe: given the scale of the investment, all parties have to give this every opportunity to work. However, it’s difficult to escape the feeling that when all is said and done between Arsenal and Pepe, this will feel like a fork in the road moment.

Opta pointed out that since Arteta took over at Arsenal, they have received five red cards, two more than any other Premier League team in that period. Unlike in the early days of Arsène Wenger’s reign, this doesn’t seem to be the consequences of a physical playing style or some vigilante spirit — even if Kieran Tierney did win plaudits for seeking to remonstrate with Alioksi after the game. Instead, it feels like sloppiness.

GettyImages-1229738130-scaled.jpg


Tierney attempts to remonstrate with Alioski after the match (Photo: Michael Regan/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Given the dynamics of the game, it was tempting to assume Pepe’s sending off would lead to a defeat. It did enable Leeds to exert more consistent pressure on Arsenal’s goal, and after seeing three shots come off the woodwork and several other promising efforts saved, Marcelo Bielsa’s men will be cursing both their luck and the performance of Bernd Leno.

Going down to 10 men did, however, seem to suit Arsenal to a degree. It enabled them to do what they do best — lean on their system, their shape, and launch the occasional counter-attack from a deeper starting position. This is an Arsenal team that are most comfortable with underdog status.

It’s strange to see an Arsenal team relatively secure at the back, yet utterly uninspired up front. Even their summer hire of a new set-pieces coach, Andreas Georgson, seems to fit the trend: Arsenal have not conceded a goal from a set piece all season in the Premier League, but have scored only one. Hector Bellerin’s latest foul throw and a series of underwhelming deliveries suggest that on the attacking front, Georgson still has work to do.

As does Arteta. He did at least rework his front three in this game, finally starting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through the middle. Aubameyang arrived at Elland Road with a tally of four shots across his last four Premier League games. Recording three shots in just 90 minutes against Leeds will feel something like progress.

Arsenal’s biggest problem, however, remains progressing the ball into the final third. It may sound absurd to some, but the absence of new father David Luiz robs this team of creativity and craft on the ball. The fact Arteta also started the game without the injured Thomas Partey and the exhausted Bukayo Saka doubtless impacted upon Arsenal’s build-up play.

Arsenal desperately need a player with Pepe’s qualities, but Arteta will feel more unsure than ever as to whether Pepe is that player. It will not be easy for the Ivorian to regain his coach’s faith after this latest setback. Few at Arsenal doubt Pepe’s talent, but there is so much more that goes into being a top Premier League player than that.

The Athletic revealed last week that the decision to sign Pepe over Wilfried Zaha was taken at a barbecue at Josh Kroenke’s house in the summer of 2019. Part of the logic behind plumping for the £72 million Ivorian was that, at 24, he would offer good residual value. If Pepe continues to flatter to deceive, we will get closer and closer to seeing that theory put to the test.
Moving like he doggied Arteta’s wife ffs. :lol:
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
5 reds under Arteta...

1. Luiz v Chelsea...I believe this was Mustafi's fault.
2. Auba v Palace...think Auba slipped into the tackle by accident.
3. Luiz v City...can't believe Big Dave survived this tbf, thought he was done here after the post match interview too :lol:
4. Eddie v Leicester...going for the ball a little too aggressively more than anything.
5. Pepe v Leeds...dumbest sending off really.

...bar Luiz v City, the others weren't as bad as what Pepe did...think the reason he didn't go in on Luiz though was because he is one of our better defenders (it's not a great group atm) and he knew he needed him...while Arteta has a few players he likes more than Pepe anyway in his position, he just doesn't rate him.

No manager will treat all the players the same, the better ones/ones they feel are more important will get more leeway.
 
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The_Playmaker

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Just to put it in perspective. Martial moved to Man United for a fee rising to the current 44 million at the age of 19.

He has been in the country for 5 years, adapted to the league, not exactly setting the place a light with performances, behaviour on or off the field.

He got sent off against Sp**s in the first half when it was 2 -1 to Sp**s.

These were his managers words:

"For me of course two emotions on it really. Well done to Anthony for not going down and for not trying to con the referee to send Lamela off,” Solskjaer said. “Anthony knows he cannot react like this, but it’s an absolute joke for me that a lad can go down like that. If that was my son he would live on water and bread for two weeks. That’s not how I want my players to react.”

Did Martial apologise? Was such a massive deal made put of it? Was he publicly blamed for his team losing 6 -1 as they played an entire match with 10 men? Ofcourse not. That's not what you do as a manager.
 

Ibadan

Thread Bump Police
Just to put it in perspective. Martial moved to Man United for a fee rising to the current 44 million at the age of 19.

He has been in the country for 5 years, adapted to the league, not exactly setting the place a light with performances, behaviour on or off the field.

He got sent off against Sp**s in the first half when it was 2 -1 to Sp**s.

These were his managers words:

"For me of course two emotions on it really. Well done to Anthony for not going down and for not trying to con the referee to send Lamela off,” Solskjaer said. “Anthony knows he cannot react like this, but it’s an absolute joke for me that a lad can go down like that. If that was my son he would live on water and bread for two weeks. That’s not how I want my players to react.”

Did Martial apologise? Was such a massive deal made put of it? Was he publicly blamed for his team losing 6 -1 as they played an entire match with 10 men? Ofcourse not. That's not what you do as a manager.

Agree with this. An important difference between Martial and Pepe's standing for their respective teams: Martial is a guaranteed starter for Man U and has been a very consistent performer in the last 2 seasons. Pepe has never really had the utmost confidence of either Emery or Arteta.

The thing is, I feel OGS would say the same thing if this was Brandon Williams or Odion Ighalo! I remember him standing up for Greenwood when he got in trouble. I swear I remember him backing some rapist back in Sweden or wherever he's from as well. He just seems like the kind of guy who backs his boys.

I genuinely, genuinely feel like Arteta just doesn't like Pepe.

What do people think Mourinho would do if one of his players behaved like Pepe? I honestly don't think he'd have been as harsh as Arteta was. Remember, we didn't even lose this game, we drew.
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
No manager will treat all the players the same, the better ones/ones they feel are more important will get more leeway.
Didn’t other managers get criticised for this? Even though there was nothing to suggest such stuff.

Willian even got away with flying off to Dubai. If you’re part of the Kia clique you’re ok it seems.
 

mwake

Member
He appears to sometimes have this laid-back style but you have to earn that kinda attitude, it fine to walk around now and again if you have the attacking metrics to back it up but Pepe doesn't.

When was the last time you saw Liverpool's Mane lazily walking around like he had just done his homework early? Mane runs around attacking and defending for 90mins nonstop 38 games a year, and even then he gets upset when he occasionally gets substituted or when Salah doesn't pass the ball to him.

Pepe needs to show a little more determination, I think he got comfortable relaxing in the idea that he is some sort of messi type.
 

Ash10

Chairman of the Bum Brigade
Like I said before, hasn’t been the best player in a single game since he signed for us. I am not really gonna make a big deal out of the red card but the fact that he is terrible in pretty much every game is the thing that irks me

We wasted 72 million & we're gonna take a huge loss. But his fanboys will keep acting like he's 17 & he'll suddenly turn into messi one day. I hope he turns it around but I just don't see it.... Too many holes in his game
 

Plutarch

Well-Known Member
We'd have been far better off buying Zaha from Crystal Palace. People who criticise Zaha are mistaken, he's a consistent performer and very effective in the premier league. He'd have been a very good buy for us, much more useful than Pepe.
 

scytheavatar

Established Member
Agree with this. An important difference between Martial and Pepe's standing for their respective teams: Martial is a guaranteed starter for Man U and has been a very consistent performer in the last 2 seasons. Pepe has never really had the utmost confidence of either Emery or Arteta.

The thing is, I feel OGS would say the same thing if this was Brandon Williams or Odion Ighalo! I remember him standing up for Greenwood when he got in trouble. I swear I remember him backing some rapist back in Sweden or wherever he's from as well. He just seems like the kind of guy who backs his boys.

I genuinely, genuinely feel like Arteta just doesn't like Pepe.

What do people think Mourinho would do if one of his players behaved like Pepe? I honestly don't think he'd have been as harsh as Arteta was. Remember, we didn't even lose this game, we drew.

Emery didn't like Pepe either........... any competent manager in a big club would have hated Pepe cause he's just a luxury player and not someone good enough to build the team around, yet you need to build the team around him for him to be a threat. Also remember that while Martial has been around at Utd for a long time he is still younger than Pepe.
 

freeglennhelder2

Established Member

Country: England

Player:Elneny
Just to put it in perspective. Martial moved to Man United for a fee rising to the current 44 million at the age of 19.

He has been in the country for 5 years, adapted to the league, not exactly setting the place a light with performances, behaviour on or off the field.

He got sent off against Sp**s in the first half when it was 2 -1 to Sp**s.

These were his managers words:

"For me of course two emotions on it really. Well done to Anthony for not going down and for not trying to con the referee to send Lamela off,” Solskjaer said. “Anthony knows he cannot react like this, but it’s an absolute joke for me that a lad can go down like that. If that was my son he would live on water and bread for two weeks. That’s not how I want my players to react.”

Did Martial apologise? Was such a massive deal made put of it? Was he publicly blamed for his team losing 6 -1 as they played an entire match with 10 men? Ofcourse not. That's not what you do as a manager.

Wait. Does everyone have selective memory here?

Martial and Lamela traded like for like blows. Lamela struck the first blow. For some bizarre reason Martial is sent off and Lamela isn’t. It was a ridiculous situation and completely unfair.

Pepe brought his head to an opposition player. Yeah it’s soft, yes he’s fallen for it, yes the other guys gone down like he’s been sniped with an AX50 but it’s the rules. It’s actually one of the few rules that are applied 100% consistently and everyone knows it. Arteta could have been calmer about the whole thing in the post-match, sure, but that doesn’t seem his way.

A blatant miscarriage of justice vs a player being sent off with minimal provocation are not identical scenarios, c’mon people!
 

The_Playmaker

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Wait. Does everyone have selective memory here?

Martial and Lamela traded like for like blows. For some bizarre reason Martial is sent off and Lamela isn’t. It was a ridiculous situation and completely unfair.

Pepe brought his head to an opposition player. Yeah it’s soft, yes he’s fallen for it, yes the other guys gone down like he’s been sniped with an AX50 but it’s the rules. It’s actually one of the few rules that are applied 100% consistently and everyone knows it. Arteta could have been calmer about the whole thing in the post-match, sure, but that doesn’t seem his way.

A blatant miscarriage of justice vs a player being sent off with minimal provocation are not identical scenarios, c’mon people!

One thing that is certain in football is that if you raise your hand to someones face you have a definite chance of getting sent off. He took the chance and got sent off. Whether it was him or Lamela, they both would have left their team with a mountain to climb for being sent off in the 28th minute.

I'm not saying what Pepe did was excusable. If I am honest I understand why he is frustrated, but you don't come out publicly and say he let the team down.

There are players in the team who are consistently letting the team down.

Also, I don't think Arteta dislikes Pepe as a person per se. I think he dislikes the type of player he is. That is a problem. Arteta wants to build a team based on structure defensively. That is fine. However, he is attempting to do the same offensively and that is not possible.

A good attack requires freedom. I remember Thierry Henry speaking about Guardiola saying that he wants you to stand in a particular place. He said that Guardiola said something along these lines:

"You do what I say and you play where I tell you to, it is my job to get you to the final third, once you are there, it is up to you".

Arteta is trying to control every action of our attacking play, even in the final third, so how could a player like Pepe ever function in his system?

Pepe requires freedom to drift, freedom to play the wrong pass, freedom to shoot and freedom to lose the ball. None of what Pepe is or what Özil is functions in what Arteta wants.

Look at every player who plays on the right. Whether it be Willian, Pepe or Nelson. They receive the ball on the touch line, they look for the run of Bellerin on the inside and then they support him. They receive no passes from their full back and they are asked to put in a massive defensive shift. Pepe is not a player that is suited for that job. That is the job of a right sided midfielder, not a right forward.

We are being linked to Aouar and Szoboszlai. These are two players that require freedom to roam. They are no different from Pepe. Defensively I wouldn't even say they are better than Pepe.

If you play them wide they need the freedom to drift infield. Stick them on the touchline and they are useless. Play them central and ask them to mark the opposition DM so that is all the think about and they will end up being like Willock at 10.

It's all about the messaging and currently the offensive messaging is ****ed.
 

Red London

Anti-Simp Culture
Trusted ⭐
I don't understand why people are comparing this to other red cards, they are all different scenarios completely. Martial red was a travesty, horrendous officiating that for once went against United.

Luiz reds were silly mistakes but mistakes tryna play football. What Pepe did was absolutely pointless. This is coming from someone who has time for Pepe, but you have to realise it was an extremely stupid red. Especially given the circumstances of him wanting to be given a chance and Arteta putting some trust in him.

As I said the other day though there was still no need for Arteta to act like that in the post match.
 

tap-in

Nothing Wrong With Me
I hope Arteta plays Pepe on Thur. Its the only chance we have of something good coming from this sending off. I fully accept Pepe was at fault but he needs a lift now more than ever. Should we punish him further without gain for ourselves? That would be pointless!
 
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