Nicolas Pepe: The Nutmeg Express!

[BigPoppaPump]

Perfect reasoning. Willian was 'bang average' in the last game. And also our midfield was taking a drubbing against West Ham, we weren't in control at all. Harsh for people to criticise a winger coming on for 20 mins to make an impact in that scenario.

I don't have the stats to back this u so I might be wrong but I feel like Pepe loses the ball way too much and that what gives Willian the edge. With Pepe you know if he doesn't beat the player with a dribble then he's most likely going to lose the ball, and with Bellerin behind him who isn't the best at stopping opposition wingers and loses the ball a lot himself it's a recipe for disaster.

 

[Makingtrax]

I don't have the stats to back this u so I might be wrong but I feel like Pepe loses the ball way too much and that what gives Willian the edge. With Pepe you know if he doesn't beat the player with a dribble then he's most likely going to lose the ball, and with Bellerin behind him who isn't the best at stopping opposition wingers and loses the ball a lot himself it's a recipe for disaster.

Interesting, took a look at last season to compare his play to Auba to see how many times he lost the ball.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Interesting, took a look at last season to compare his play to Auba to see how many times he lost the ball.

Not surprised, Aubameyang loses the ball a lot too. He gets dispossessed a lot when he tries to beat players, but his upside is worth it. Is Pepe's?

Tbh I don't even know if that's a lot for both of them

 

[Makingtrax]

Not surprised, Aubameyang loses the ball a lot too. He gets dispossessed a lot when he tries to beat players, but his upside is worth it. Is Pepe's?

Tbh I don't even know if that's a lot for both of them

They get a red or green bar with a star under the stats whether is worse or better than average for the Prem. I know it's only two games but here's Pepe's comparison to Willian.

 

[Garrincha]

Isnt Pepe giving it away more than both? Or are these per 90?

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Interesting, took a look at last season to compare his play to Auba to see how many times he lost the ball.

I don't get this, Auba has played 5 mores games but like 1100 minutes more?

 

[Moah]

I don’t get how you could sign a player of his profile (raw/young/talented) and price tag and not play him into adaptation.

Exactly this. I would understand if Pepe was so poor and didn't show any potential under Arteta, but he did. He was improving with every game he played. Against top teams like City and Chelsea he played really well, was confident in what he did and it paid off.

The groundwork had been well done for Arteta to build on but I don't know why he chose an older, less explosive, past his best player. I would understand if it was a year long deal, but it's three, that's way too much.

Then again if we sign Partey, we maybe able to have both of them in the starting 11. But if we sign Auoar he will be taking one spot so it'll be very difficult for Pepe to come in.

 

[Moah]

I don't get this, Auba has played 5 mores games but like 1100 minutes more?

Pepe never lasts the full 90. He usually gets subbed after about 75 mins, and he played a bunch of games off the bench too.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

I don’t get how you could sign a player of his profile (raw/young/talented) and price tag and not play him into adaptation.

We only signed him cos that would make Raul the most money is my theory.

 

[Makingtrax]

I don't get this, Auba has played 5 mores games but like 1100 minutes more?

How many times did Pepe just come in for the last 10.

I didn't even want Pepe last year. Thought we had much more pressing matters in defence to address. Ironically many of the posters on here telling us how much we needed him, are the first to tell us how much we need Willian instead of him.

Personally I have to admit his stats at Lille were excellent and he wouldn't be the first French player to spend a year struggling to get to grips with the pace if the Prem. I think it was too soon to appoint another player in his position, without addressing the midfield.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

How many times did Pepe just come in for the last 10.

I didn't even want Pepe last year. Thought we had much more pressing matters in defence to address. Ironically many of the posters on here telling us how much we needed him, are the first to tell us how much we need Willian instead of him.

Personally I have to admit his stats at Lille were excellent and he wouldn't be the first French player to spend a year struggling to get to grips with the pace if the Prem. I think it was too soon to appoint another player in his position, without addressing the midfield.

I realised a lot of posters on this forum are just propagandists, like they will find the positive in everything we do.

Just funny how we thought 80 million was too much for Zaha but 72 million was good enough for Pepe. I guess it had to do with Palace wanting bigger instalments than Lille and Raul getting more money from the Pepe deal.

I agree though we need to invest in midfield, we historically spend way too much on forwards and ignore the rest. We also seem to be buying a CB every window for some reason.

 

[Macho]

We only signed him cos that would make Raul the most money is my theory.

We can't rule this out.

 

[Makingtrax]

I realised a lot of posters on this forum are just propagandists, like they will find the positive in everything we do.

Just funny how we thought 80 million was too much for Zaha but 72 million was good enough for Pepe. I guess it had to do with Palace wanting bigger instalments than Lille and Raul getting more money from the Pepe deal.

I agree though we need to invest in midfield, we historically spend way too much on forwards and ignore the rest. We also seem to be buying a CB every window for some reason.

We bought two CBs last year and two this year, with 5 already on our books. How crazy is that? This year we really only needed Saliba to join us and to buy Gabriel. Mari and Luiz smack of dodgy stuff.

 

[Big Poppa]

Interesting, took a look at last season to compare his play to Auba to see how many times he lost the ball.

I don’t know how one can draw any conclusions from this as there are so many wildly different scenarios. For example, losing the ball when a basic pass is intercepted vs losing the ball when dribbling or crossing. One of the reasons you’ll always see players like Xhaka and Elneny with ridiculously good looking possession stats.

If you did this as a ratio for example balls lost per xG, I think it may be more interesting.

 

[Makingtrax]

I don’t know how one can draw any conclusions from this as there are so many wildly different scenarios. For example, losing the ball when a basic pass is intercepted vs losing the ball when dribbling or crossing. One of the reasons you’ll always see players like Xhaka and Elneny with ridiculously good looking possession stats.

If you did this as a ratio for example balls lost per xG, I think it may be more interesting.

You're right, it doesn't say a lot. Auba and Pepe are bound to lose the ball more because of their style.

Like kids at school, the ones who try the 'take ons' are the ones who lose the ball the most. And the impatient staff and parents are shouting play the simple ball.

Pepe clearly had a shock at how fast the Prem is, they're on him before he could think. But Henry was a disappointment to everybody at first. Wenger stuck by him though even though his confidence was shot. That's what we need to do, not play him 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there. Then get another player in his position.

 

[GDeep™]

The club are to blame for this transfer and waste of money really. They employed and put the structure in place that allowed Raul to sign off on this deal.

Now Raul isn’t here, the structure of the club is totally different, and we have a 80M player that hasn’t played 2 good games in a row and isn’t really fancied by the new manager.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

Pepe needs to do more without the ball. More runs, more pressing, more aggression.

In his defence though this is a byproduct of our slow and static sideways passing in midfield. At the moment it falls on Tierney and David Luiz to play balls over the top into space and we struggle badly when both are absent.

Can't emphasise how much we need to improve midfield productivity.

Agree.
If our initial dream of P&A would have happened, I'm pretty sure that Pepe would have looked twice the player.

Our attackers are fed so poorly, it is tragic at times.

 

[SingmeasongSong]

I don't get this, Auba has played 5 mores games but like 1100 minutes more?

Pepe has had sooo many appearances as a sub and it killed a lot of his confidence.

Yes, you can argue Nketiah is an example of who is using his chances then, but getting those odd 15-20 minutes at the end is often a really unthankful task. It's hard to shine.

What people can actually not deny, if they watched our games, is that Pepe had several patches last season where he's been the standout attacking threat for 2-3 games and then got dropped without any reason whatsoever.

 

[Pyres7]

I think it was too soon to appoint another player in his position, without addressing the midfield.

Surely the opposite is true? He was a free transfer so it lets us focus our budget on our midfield.

We're in 4 competitions, they'll both get plenty of games. I don't get why people are so afraid of competition.

 

[Makingtrax]

Surely the opposite is true? He was a free transfer so it lets us focus our budget on our midfield.

We're in 4 competitions, they'll both get plenty of games. I don't get why people are so afraid of competition.

He's far from free bro. Even if the Daily Mail exclusive about the £35m in wages, bonuses, Kia payments etc is out.