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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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14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
Pepes problem is decision making. It always has been at Arsenal. When hes present with any kind of decision hes horrible. And football is about decisions almost everytime you have the ball.

As a winger hes thinking, do I run straight at speed and take defender on outside, do I cut inside, do I pass or continue, do I pass back etc. He hasnt got the ability to process this information and make the right decision. It's why at times when hes 1 v 1 with no real danger he does something stupid with his feet and gifts the ball to the defender. Or the other night he seemed to just fall over the ball.

How many times do you see Bernardo Silva, Mahrez, Salah, etc fall over the ball? Watched Chelsea tonight and Ziyech was very good. Controlled the ball, picked the pass etc. On a different day could have had 4 assists all while keeping the ball moving, drifting in and out and being decisive.

Pepes best moments come when he has one decision usually a hugely obvious pass (Auba in final) or a shot cutting in against West Ham or the other night in EL.

For Pepe the less options he has the better and unfortunately as a winger/creative player you have to be able to make your defender think your going to do one thing while doing another. What seems to happen is Pepes brain tells his legs to do something different from what hes thinking.

After 18 months it's clear that he hasnt improved the team or hasnt had the desired impact. His overall play is poor and it has been a huge waste of resources. We have spent 100m on him and Saliba and when you compare that to 70m Gabriel and Partey it is clear that summer 2019 was a huge disaster.

Pepes supporters only have to ask one question. If we were to put him up for sale tomorrow which clubs would be interested and for how much? People talk about Barcelona, Bayern etc were interested. If those top teams really wanted him they would have him. Napoli and Arsenal got free run on him for a reason.
 

Ibadan

Thread Bump Police
Pepes problem is decision making. It always has been at Arsenal. When hes present with any kind of decision hes horrible. And football is about decisions almost everytime you have the ball.

As a winger hes thinking, do I run straight at speed and take defender on outside, do I cut inside, do I pass or continue, do I pass back etc. He hasnt got the ability to process this information and make the right decision. It's why at times when hes 1 v 1 with no real danger he does something stupid with his feet and gifts the ball to the defender. Or the other night he seemed to just fall over the ball.

How many times do you see Bernardo Silva, Mahrez, Salah, etc fall over the ball? Watched Chelsea tonight and Ziyech was very good. Controlled the ball, picked the pass etc. On a different day could have had 4 assists all while keeping the ball moving, drifting in and out and being decisive.

Pepes best moments come when he has one decision usually a hugely obvious pass (Auba in final) or a shot cutting in against West Ham or the other night in EL.

For Pepe the less options he has the better and unfortunately as a winger/creative player you have to be able to make your defender think your going to do one thing while doing another. What seems to happen is Pepes brain tells his legs to do something different from what hes thinking.

After 18 months it's clear that he hasnt improved the team or hasnt had the desired impact. His overall play is poor and it has been a huge waste of resources. We have spent 100m on him and Saliba and when you compare that to 70m Gabriel and Partey it is clear that summer 2019 was a huge disaster.

good points from you, very surprising.
 

Manberg

Predator
The worrying thing is he’s making so many turnovers in 1v1 situations against poverty defenders. In the efl cup game he got done by some Liverpool kid every time. What hope does he then have against established premier league defenders? He’s 25 he’s not young.

The best decisions he’s made in the final third is to hold the ball and lay it off to an overlapping Bellerin. But those are few and far between and occur after many failures.
 

Penn_

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
The player name is not important here, I'm only questioning your logic. People without it usually go with the bully attitude like "Comparing Pepe to Auba", and you know it's rough when they put a smiley after it because Auba is a scary name and I'm not allowed to compare that name to other mortals.

It simply doesn't matter if his name is Auba, or whatever, you (and the manager) said that it's all about performances, even though Auba is not performing, Willian is not performing and from what I've heard from Arteta, everyone starts the season with a clean slate, right? I know, we're soon gonna switch to hard work on the training ground and Pepe is probably lazy or playing golf with Bale, right?

I'll go with the theory that Arteta brought Willian and he decided to leave Pepe out even before the season started, and he's gonna insist on that, but you're free to buy his cr*p about clean slate and performances

Auba and Özil can or have rather done it against the very best. You can rely on them to make the difference. Fans and managers will forgive them floating through games because you can be bet on them doing something.

Pepe stat padding against EL part timers, while being out performed by younger players, doesn’t help us in the games that matter. You can’t moan at Arteta for not starting him when he’s given very little in return.

I’d much rather see Pepe go on a barren ten game run but be beating players at will than chipping in with the odd goal, we’d be a far better team for it.
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
Is it possible to sell him next summer? Will clubs be interested? What’s the most we can get for him?

No one in the PL is touching him. Barcelona Madrid etc neither.

It appears his level is below us. So we need to find a team that is worse than us in whatever league to sign him. And most of those teams wouldnt have more than 25-30m to spend on a player.

Hes either gonna sit around and be a squad player for us over the next few years or hes gonna end up on loans and us having to pay some of his wages or take a ridiculously low figure(which will probably be an accurate figure). Another huge mistake in the transfer market that we will pay for for a number of years.
 

The_Playmaker

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Is it possible to sell him next summer? Will clubs be interested? What’s the most we can get for him?

20 million up front and then 52 million over 5 years. So we have paid roughly 30 million for him so far. So if we were to sell him for 40 million we would break even from what we have paid for him so far, wages included. We would still owe 30 million over 3 years. So 30 million loss roughly but it wouldn't show up on ffp.
 

Hleb's Sirush

Established Member
The worrying thing is he’s making so many turnovers in 1v1 situations against poverty defenders. In the efl cup game he got done by some Liverpool kid every time.

He was dreadful at Anfield in that league cup game, and that was against a kid I haven't heard of before. Similarly he struggled to get much change out of a very poor Dundalk team.

What hope does he then have against established premier league defenders?

Arguably his 3 best games for us were Man Utd at home and City and Chelsea in the semi and final of the FA cup. Particularly the Chelsea game where he gave their defenders a torrid time. This is why Pepe can be so frustrating, he can struggle against a kid or some Irish farmers but terrorise some of the best defences in the league. You might also remember in his first full debut he run Liverpool ragged on his own. Up to that point I think he was one of only 2 or 3 players who managed to dribble past VVD for more than a year.

Which shows the problem isn't the opposition. Pepe is capable of producing the sublime but other times can't even control the ball.
 

Hleb's Sirush

Established Member
Pepe stat padding against EL part timers, while being out performed by younger players, doesn’t help us in the games that matter. You can’t moan at Arteta for not starting him when he’s given very little in return.

You would have had a point if Arteta didn't start Laca and Willian in every game. What returns are they offering?
 

Manberg

Predator
You would have had a point if Arteta didn't start Laca and Willian in every game. What returns are they offering?

Not much either, but performance wise; they offer more than Pepe with more consistency. Our attack overall’s not very good and Arteta doesn’t have the players he wants. It’s the weakest part of our team.

Arteta’s not going to adapt his tactics to suit Pepe. Nor should he.
 

Trilly

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

Country: England
Arteta’s not going to adapt his tactics to suit Pepe. Nor should he.
That’s part of being a manager tbf.

He should be adapting our tactics to suit at least two of our forwards. That’s an almost 200M front line we have.

Pepe is benched, Laca is too tired to use his quality and the best of them all is starved of service.
 

Hleb's Sirush

Established Member
Lacazette did get dropped for Eddie, both of who got dropped for Willian.

The odd game maybe, and more for rotation purposes. Laca is firmly number one for the starting CF position.

Laca isn't really giving us anything at the moment. The definition of little or no return but what he does do is follow Arteta's plan to the letter. The same with Willian. They are both also more secure on the ball. Pepe while wildly inconsistent still probably offers more than them. However he isn't an Arteta kind of player.
 

Hleb's Sirush

Established Member
Our attack overall’s not very good and Arteta doesn’t have the players he wants. It’s the weakest part of our team.

It wasn't long ago when everyone agreed attack was our strongest part. So many teams would kill to have our attacking players at their disposal.
 

14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
Willian isn't great nor has been for us but what you can guarantee is when he needs to do the simple things right he does them. Solid if nothing else. You could watch a whole game and not see him do much bad nor good. Most games floating around 6/10.

Pepe on the other hand has more variation in performance. Somedays a 3/10 somedays a 9/10. His moments of brilliance have came in smaller fixtures. (2 free kicks, goal against west ham, sheffield United, europa league). We cannot say this man is a top creater because he passed the ball to the only person available in the FA cup final in that phase of play. 95% of the time that pass doesnt create a clear goalscoring opportunity. it was pure brilliance from Auba. Nor because he grabs an assist or goals against teams like Dundalk.

He played against a young Liverpool side and a second string Leciester side. Didnt do anything to note. Didnt play himself into the managers plans.

The problem is having watched pretty much all of Arsenals games since hes joined I find myself saying "what is he doing" more often than "that was a good bit of play or decent move". With Willian I dont really say anything. Willian while maybe the boring option is the safer one.

Pepes unpredictability with even the basic skills of football makes him impossible to trust. I'd much rather have a player I trust to do the basics right than someone who could score a worldie and fall over the ball 3 times in the one game.
 
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14Henry

Looking for receipts 👀
It wasn't long ago when everyone agreed attack was our strongest part. So many teams would kill to have our attacking players at their disposal.

That was when Pepe signed and we thought a fit Laca, a firing Auba and a 20 goal/assist winger would be good. That materialised to being a huge 72m flop, Laca with what looks like fitness issues and being asked to play a different role and our star striker being played out wide.
 

Hleb's Sirush

Established Member
With Willian I dont really say anything. Willian while maybe the boring option is the safer one.

If we keep selecting the safer option than no wonder we are struggling to score goals.

Pepes unpredictability with even the basic skills of football makes him impossible to trust. I'd much rather have a player I trust to do the basics right than someone who could score a worldie and fall over the ball 3 times in the one game.

It would be too risky to have those kind of players in central midfield or on defence but surely a player in Pepe's position can take a bit of risk. There is usually 7 players behind him if we do end up losing the ball. In forward position you have to take some risk. The reward are big if they come off.

It is actually something most attackers do anyway. Bruno Fernandes lost the ball 34 times the other night. Salah, Mane, Sterling, Grealish, Rashford are all near the top of most possession lost this season (Zaha is at the top). Which shows the best players take players on and it doesn't always come off.

I rather have someone who lost possession 3 or 4 times but maybe scores with the 5th than someone who keeps it safe and has zero turnovers.
 

Hleb's Sirush

Established Member
That was when Pepe signed and we thought a fit Laca, a firing Auba and a 20 goal/assist winger would be good. That materialised to being a huge 72m flop, Laca with what looks like fitness issues and being asked to play a different role and our star striker being played out wide.

No, attack was recognised as our strongest part even before we bought Pepe. Defence was being called relegation/Championship standard. Midfield we had no Party yet, Elneny wasn't rated at that time. So overall midfield was a disaster too.

It shows though, how while players matter, the system matters more. Now our defence looks like one of the best in the league. Same way that our defenders weren't relegation standard our attack isn't as bad is it appears.

Laca with what looks like fitness issues and being asked to play a different role and our star striker being played out wide.

This is part of the problem. We are sabotaging our attack by playing players where they are at their weakest.
 

Macho

In search of Pure Profit 💸
Dusted 🔻

Country: England
If it would stop the essays and complaining I’d be all for selling him for sure.
Arteta can’t be bothered so there’s not much he can do to change his situation, we just have to recruit better.

I watched the prem all weekend, attackers lose the ball and way too much is made of it.
 
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