Arsenal Small Talk
Member
Did he post it because this because he felt he needed to or is this the new Arsenal Social media management team?
It’s because we’re SHÏT.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.
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.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.
Moving like he doggied Arteta’s wife ffs.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.
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.
Yeah it's really not like this when Luiz gets his routine red cards but let me not speak.Moving like he doggied Arteta’s wife ffs.
He’s just proven to be inconsistent with some of his bollocks.Yeah it's really not like this when Luiz gets his routine red cards but let me not speak.
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.
Didn’t other managers get criticised for this? Even though there was nothing to suggest such stuff.No manager will treat all the players the same, the better ones/ones they feel are more important will get more leeway.
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.
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. 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!