GunnerShy
Well-Known Member
Haven't seen him play well since the first half of the Leicester game. Time to reintegrate GabrielLuiz was awful last night though. If we renew that contract...
Haven't seen him play well since the first half of the Leicester game. Time to reintegrate GabrielLuiz was awful last night though. If we renew that contract...
Excellent game from him tbf, didn't expect it. Much of the reason he did better was probably that he wasn't stuck on the byline, he needs to be closer to the goal.
Agree with you but I feel sorry for him and not even trying to be pessimistic but unless Arteta tries him uptop or changes system then I don't see it happening.Having let that performance resonate for a bit, I gotta say I'm very impressed with his performance.
He stepped up. Auba was out, people were miffed about Gabigol not starting, he stepped up. The goal was a quality finish (there's a conversation to be had about him playing up top btw) but his work rate, winning headers, communication, it was all there.
If he put in those performances every week, or even close to those performances, the whole £72M thing wouldn't get brought up as often. Buzzing for him, but I don't want this to be another false dawn, he needs to replicate this 5/6 games on the bounce before we can be confident of his importance here.
As long as the team is playing well, he'll always be a player who contributes to our attack rather than makes it worse. I'm 100% confident of that.But the team is getting more confidence, we are scoring and creating chances so if Pepe really is that good I'm expecting months of constant good performances, I'm expecting some games he come up with some magic to open up closed games. I don't think that is unfair. I want to see that Pepe everyone is whispering about in corners!
As long as the team is playing well, he'll always be a player who contributes to our attack rather than makes it worse. I'm 100% confident of that.
The sad thing is that I don't think he'll ever get that run of games to prove that. Even now he has the 2nd most goals + assists in the squad, last season he was 2nd as well. Over a span of games, he'll prove that his productivity is worth him losing the ball, even though people exaggerate that.
Hope Pepe refuses to play there just because of that! 10 nutmegs = 1 goal and he be PL top scorer!...and less people to nutmeg.
None of our players is being able to do that throughout any of the games, because the times when we were dominating other teams are long gone.My main problem with him is him not managing to put his stamp on the game for sustainable periods during the game, game after game after game. Consistency! Being involved and helping out in the build-up. That is where I want to see improvements!
I thought Pepe played pretty well last night. One of his better performances of the season for sure.
I'm not going to go overboard though, it was one game up against a poor RB. Let's see if he can string 5-6 performances together in a row.
As long as our manager and the fans feel like that, we're gonna be a mid table team. Auba is not a WC player, not even close, he is a WC goalscorer and one of the few players in the world who can score 20+ goals in the PL. I'm not saying Pepe should take his place, but we need to move him away from LW and play someone with a more suitable skillset there. I just feel we play so much better in the attack without him stinking our attack from the LWSaka is literally a 100M pound player atm, Auba is a proven WC player and that basically rules out the right and left wings for him.
Yeah you're right, WC goalscorer but his general play has always been a bit leave it..As long as our manager and the fans feel like that, we're gonna be a mid table team. Auba is not a WC player, not even close, he is a WC goalscorer and one of the few players in the world who can score 20+ goals in the PL. I'm not saying Pepe should take his place, but we need to move him away from LW and play someone with a more suitable skillset there. I just feel we play so much better in the attack without him stinking our attack from the LW
We need him as a CF, Laca will never be able to contribute 20+ goals a season even though he can be a very good player. To get Auba there, we need to add more technical quality to the team and create chances, that guy will score for fun. The easiest improvements are currently RB and CM where I feel we lack technical quality other top teams will have. Once that's sorted, I'm sure Pepe/Saka would add 10-15 goals each and Auba 20+, but without enough creativity, we will always need someone like Laca to contribute with that and Auba will play as a wingerYeah you're right, WC goalscorer but his general play has always been a bit leave it..
the Saka-ESR-Pepe line of attacking mids was really nice to see. Felt like it was the first time in ages we could attack down either wing and be hopeful of something happening. We need to find a way to get Auba in front of that line. I've had a taste of it and don't wanna go back now.
I liked that with Pepe on the left, that side still remained the dominant side of attack. That's credit to Cedric too.Yeah you're right, WC goalscorer but his general play has always been a bit leave it..
the Saka-ESR-Pepe line of attacking mids was really nice to see. Felt like it was the first time in ages we could attack down either wing and be hopeful of something happening. We need to find a way to get Auba in front of that line. I've had a taste of it and don't wanna go back now.
None of our players is being able to do that throughout any of the games, because the times when we were dominating other teams are long gone.
And for the rest, he never plays game after game so I can't understand what you're expecting there. Expecting consistency from a player who starts every fifth game... Feels a bit dumb if I'm honest
Loads of posts here are complete rubbish, people targeting him because of the price like it's his fault. We have a very good player on our books, and I think he was productive as someone could be considering his status within the squad.
The trouble is, no matter how good he is, once Auba is back he will end up on the bench. That's not a situation that would inspire someone to step up, he understands that very well. He can score on Saturday and will still find himself out of the team next week