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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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Melquiades

Active Member
So you are saying making a wrong choice to correct a wrong move is right? Where is the logic in that one?

Its decisions like that that will cement our place as a mid-table club.

No, I'm saying that :

a) you want your management to have belief and a plan and follow-through on their moves. As bad as this seems, it would be even worse if management was chasing squirrels and dropping huge-money signings after only a few games.

b) with an investment this large, management needs to do their best to extract value from the asset somehow. Like, they're accountable to their bosses at the ownership level and when they go to ownership to get them to bite the bullet on eating Willian's contract (which will likely happen eventually) they need to be able to tell them that they've done the best they can with this player before reaching their decision. Again, super easy as fans to say 'never play this guy again!' but it isn't how it works in real life.

c) actually, they've pulled the plug on Willian quite quickly. He was basically a starter here for the first 12 PL games of the season, which isn't much for what they had invested in him. Since Christmas he's barely played except in blowouts. The reaction to him playing the last 15 minutes of a blowout win is over-the-top and not in line with how he's actually being used. And nothing about the tiny amount of playing time he's received in the past couple months is 'dropping us to mid-table'.

d) none of this is really unique to Arteta. Wenger was apparently done with Mustafi after his first season ... but kept playing him, for the same reasons. You had a guy with major pedigree that you made a huge investment in, and you're going to follow through on the big investment when it's struggling to try and fix the asset.

_________

And again, this is the Pepe thread. The main point here is that Willian has taken all of 58 minutes of playing time from Pepe in the last 4 months, all of it mop-up duty in blowout wins for us.
 

Melquiades

Active Member
I can completely understand resting him against Leeds but considering that ESR really really needs a break and I honestly don't think people would've been upset rotating Odergaard in for him (surely that's the point of his signing) I think he really should've started against Benfica.

Hopefully he starts against City but I won't be surprised if he doesn't

I wouldn't be surprised if the plan was to use ESR for his better link-up play to try and break through Benfica when they were parking the bus, but will use Pepe on the counterattack against a Man City team that will have more possession. Or I might be completely wrong. We'll see.
 

Trilly

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

Country: England
Yh, remember when he came on against Benfica and Tierney passed him the ball in the box, he took a needlessly showy touch and ran it out of play, I mean just, the guy has everything you want in a forward but he drives you mad
In form forward tries to take on his man in the box and is unsuccessful and it drives you mad?

Do you have the same standards for every other forward at the club ? :confused:
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
In form forward tries to take on his man in the box and is unsuccessful and it drives you mad?

Do you have the same standards for every other forward at the club ? :confused:

Nah i'm talking about how he rolled his foot over the ball to control it and he put too much on it, it was a needlessly bad control at a crucial time in the game. Just small stuff like that.

If Pepe doesn't drive you mad then I want whatever pills you're taking.
 

Trilly

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

Country: England
Nah i'm talking about how he rolled his foot over the ball to control it and he put too much on it, it was a needlessly bad control at a crucial time in the game. Just small stuff like that.

If Pepe doesn't drive you mad then I want whatever pills you're taking.

Saka loses the ball, ESR does too. Players miss shots or miscontrol the ball occasionally. You’re using his first take on in about two weeks to try and justify something. Do you hear yourself?
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
Saka loses the ball, ESR does too. Players miss shots or miscontrol the ball occasionally. You’re using his first take on in about two weeks to try and justify something. Do you hear yourself?

You're calling him 'in form' even though he's not played in two weeks. Also why are we pretending like he's a child who forgets how to play football if he sits on the bench for too long. Saka and ESR are kids from the academy at the start of their careers, Pepe is a peak age very expensive forward, obviously they're gonna have different expectations from fans.

I'm not even anti-Pepe, man, I like him, i'm just saying he frustrates me. If he doesn't frustrate you I wanna know the secret. I'm not criticising his whole game and his entire existence, i'm just citing a small example of why he's frustrtating.
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
Saka loses the ball, ESR does too. Players miss shots or miscontrol the ball occasionally. You’re using his first take on in about two weeks to try and justify something. Do you hear yourself?
He loses the ball because he takes risks all the time, but fans and our managers are happier when the ball is passed back to Luiz, make things simple and stupid, just the way people like it. We do end up with unwatchable dead football, but who cares.
 

Country: Iceland
It was bad execution from Pepe no matter of Messi, Saka, or ESR. He can and should do better. There was also another moment in the game when he mishit the easiest pass. Now I have been very critical of Arsenal for the last decade with these sloppy passes when it is very simple that even I can do it.

That second action tells me something was off with Pepe against Benfica. I was hoping he would be all fired upcoming on wanting to prove Arteta wrong for benching him but it wasn't meant to be.
 

Sweet'n'Soulful

Yet another banned account of Jury
Saka loses the ball, ESR does too. Players miss shots or miscontrol the ball occasionally. You’re using his first take on in about two weeks to try and justify something. Do you hear yourself?
Some are clearly allowed to frustrate and others aren’t. Willian can come on for 10 minutes at the end, do nothing particularly good or bad and his thread will be a ****ing inferno for 3 days, or people won’t stop referencing him in every other thread. It’s not even as if Pepe has kudos in the bank either...
 

Sweet'n'Soulful

Yet another banned account of Jury
Arteta has worn the fans off any humanly artistic football that unsuccessful take ons are crimes now. :lol:
And yet we’re playing some really good football, so maybe it’s for the best.

Wasn’t long ago people on here were murdering Alexis for losing the ball despite posting great/very good numbers... It wasn’t even ok for him!... But now Pepe rocks up with a fraction of Sanchez’s product and everyone should be ok with him trying needless stuff and failing... I’d ask how that’s supposed to work, but AM is a sea of hypocrisy, double standards and agendas, so it’s already explained!
 

Maybe

You're wrong, no?
And yet we’re playing some really good football, so maybe it’s for the best.

Wasn’t long ago people on here were murdering Alexis for losing the ball despite posting great/very good numbers... It wasn’t even ok for him!... But now Pepe rocks up with a fraction of Sanchez’s product and everyone should be ok with him trying needless stuff and failing... I’d ask how that’s supposed to work, but AM is a sea of hypocrisy, double standards and agendas, so it’s already explained!
Not sure what you're mumbling about, most fans and the manager wanted Alexis here despite him losing the ball often
 

Sweet'n'Soulful

Yet another banned account of Jury
Not sure what you're mumbling about, most fans and the manager wanted Alexis here despite him losing the ball often
Dont read it in a mumbling voice then.

This place didn't. He was hated on this board. That;s what happens when you do too well though, this board tends to find a way to turn against players for some odd reason.
 

freeglennhelder2

Established Member

Country: England

Player:Elneny
Alexis was heavily criticised on here for being too greedy, losing the ball and running around too much. But the guy delivered.

Specificially, Pepe has tripped over his feet/miscontrolled in absolutely fantastic positions deep inside the penalty area in the last two games. He wasn’t trying a pass and gave the ball away, it’s just basic ball control. It’s intensely frustrating because of his price tag, they are positions of such monumental promise and he does this a hell of a lot. It’s all part of the Pepe package, to be at peace with him you’ve just got to accept this is the negative part.
 

samshere

Why so serieuse?
Alexis was heavily criticised on here for being too greedy, losing the ball and running around too much. But the guy delivered.

Specificially, Pepe has tripped over his feet/miscontrolled in absolutely fantastic positions deep inside the penalty area in the last two games. He wasn’t trying a pass and gave the ball away, it’s just basic ball control. It’s intensely frustrating because of his price tag, they are positions of such monumental promise and he does this a hell of a lot. It’s all part of the Pepe package, to be at peace with him you’ve just got to accept this is the negative part.
But he'll turn in a curler in the very next play. If we want that, and we do, then we'll have to tolerate his miscontrols and losses of possession.
 

freeglennhelder2

Established Member

Country: England

Player:Elneny
But he'll turn in a curler in the very next play. If we want that, and we do, then we'll have to tolerate his miscontrols and losses of possession.

I don’t mind Pepe. It’s easier for me to accept his deficiencies in order to keep my blood pressure in check. You have stated that he’ll turn in a curler the next play, I think a lot of people would argue the reality is he will put in a curler in one of fifteen of the next plays. Is that enough? Not for some.
 

Trilly

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

Country: England
Some are clearly allowed to frustrate and others aren’t. Willian can come on for 10 minutes at the end, do nothing particularly good or bad and his thread will be a ****ing inferno for 3 days, or people won’t stop referencing him in every other thread. It’s not even as if Pepe has kudos in the bank either...
So true. :lol:
 
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