Nicolas Pépé

Let’s not forget that we were playing City…

Having said that, our lack of creativity, and playing Willians as a false-9 is a definite head scratcher.

We’ve definitely overpaid on Pepe by about £40m.

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I know he didn’t decide what we paid for him but he is definitely not a 70 million player right now. Mikel hasn’t figured out a way to get the best out of him yet but there is no excuse for his timid and weak displays. For all his skill and pace, he is just too light weight for this league. Pace and skill don’t matter if you get brushed off the ball as easily as he does. He needs to spend sometime bulking up, getting stronger or he has no chance in this league.

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Newsflash: he is never going to be a 70 million player. The sooner people/we accept that the better.

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Just has a distinct lack of aggression and intensity that’s vital for the position unless you’re a Hazard for example , it’s not something that is easily identifiable through videos and stats but one’s mentality is a key aspect when signing a player.

In the NFL it’s quite intrusive the way they go into how potential picks think etc but you can see why they do it. As things stand Sarr, Trossard et al would have been much better value for money.

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He could be a very good player but lacks consistency.
For 70m you would expect a player to walk into the first team and show what he can do straight away.
We probably could have had Grealish for about half that and he is a proven player in the PL.

How can we accept it?
70m worth winger are not a regular instances for Arsenal fans

I’m not sure how you can judge him on the City game. We never got the ball to him all game, only got to make 11 passes all game and all the same made a decent header attempt that may have come off on another day. City player should of been given a yellow when he got taken down on the counter attack too.

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He’ll never be a 70m player but he won’t have a real chance to succeed until Arteta gives him a run of games in a tactical setup that doesn’t just completely abandon the right side.

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I’m not judging him on the City game at all.

This is an overall observation from watching almost every game he’s played ,he simply does not have the intensity that I was expecting or even near. He’s seemingly a low motor player and that’s a huge issue as a wide player or CF

I imagine he’s the same in training hence not forcing his way into starting XI on a regular basis.

He hasn’t been utilised properly and given a decent run of games. He has the talent and the skill as we have all seen in bursts however our current setup doesn’t really let any of our forwards shine as is evident in Aubas current performances. Pepe is a very talented player who I’m sure under some one like Klopp would shine, however if we’re going to keep playing a 3-4-3 which is set up very conservatively, pass side ways and to feet and not into space, and focus our attacks heavily on the left then we are not going to get any more from him.

Even yesterday against city (who didn’t really deploy a high line) there were at least four or five opportunities for Ceballos and the other midfielders to play the ball into space on the break and they just held on to it and then passed it side ways. On one occasion Eddie was making a break on the right hand side just a straight ball in behind concelo and he would of been through on goal, but the part was slowed down, then passed side ways but which time City were all back in their own halves defending.

This type of post comes up often, but fact is Pepe isn’t to blame, the guy’s strengths are in his pace, dribbling and finishing off the break, if we’re not going to do that then may as well move him on. Although I will say every time (on the rare occasion) we have played in this way both him and Auba have delivered.

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He didn’t adapt very well in a dysfunctional team and pedestrian attack last season. We didn’t play to his strengths and he still managed 8 goals and 10 assists in all competitions. This season he’s made only the 1 start but changed the game coming off the bench scoring an incredible goal off the bench. There’s clearly a talented player there. Remember Pires was shite in his first season

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I blame how we pass to him. We’re usually playing the ball to his feet. If he can make off the ball runs and/or we play the ball in space ahead of him to run onto he’s going to get into full flight and give defenders nightmares but when you play it to his feet and the defender is already tight on him you’ve wasted his pace

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I’m not disputing that he’s talented, however, his mentality will be probably be an issue going forward whether he’s played in the right system or not.

I like the profile of the player but there’s some basics that for me are key and either he lacks them or just hasn’t demonstrated them to the requisite level, I agree we aren’t exactly playing to strengths and I’ve said as much multiple times but I’m not liking what I’m seeing with regard to his low level of intensity in games.

@BizzySignal Not sure Klopp would get on with a player like him tbh, he’s giving me Morata, Mhki vibes

:100: Watch his performances for Lile, the ball is always being played into space. We take so long to release the ball that when they do pass it to him or Auba, their surrounded by the other teams players.

Honestly I recently went back and watched a pool compilation and both Mane and Salah get so many goals with the ball being played in behind, just VVD and TAA launching balls from the back and those two running onto it. Absolutely no reason why we couldn’t do the same considering we have all these players who can play that type of long pass.

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He’s performed so, so under three managers.

Wonder how many it’ll take for people to start looking at the player when we do utilise the “right” system if he’s still not it.

Hope to see things change but I’m not confident.

Totally agree with this but I would like to see him get stuck in like Martinelli or Saka. Not expecting him to start flying into tackles or anything but a player like him, who has bags of skill and pace, has to get used to the physical side of things or he won’t make it in this league.

Even if we don’t play to his strengths, you would expect a player like Pepe to win us a few free kicks every game with his dribbling and running with the ball but yet, he hardly wins a foul cause he is too easy to shake off the ball.

Weve had an awful attacking setup under 3 managers

Because they seemed to make the same mistakes. I feel this club is cursed. To forever do a nonsense at all times.

Just a PR club for hipsters and celebrities like Jay Z and Prince Harry I guess, like a fashion statement and less an actual serious sporting club.

Makes sense then that our starting striker is a good looking Frenchman that is awful at football, our starting RB is a fashion model, and our key midfielder is also a good-looking guy.

No wonder they froze the bug-eyed guy out.

Makes as much sense as any of the other pseudo-tactical bollocks spouted to defend those selections.

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End of the day you can’t sign a player, play him in an incoherent attacking setup which has done nothing whatsoever to harness his strengths and then complain at the outcome.

He’s in and out of the team, when he does play it’s often with Aubameyang on the left which means he gets doubled up on by defenders because Auba is an ineffective winger.

How does a player grow when he is never given the tools to succeed?

Play a front 3 of Saka - Auba - Pepe if you intend to play a front 3 and just let them play their game.

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Nope. Don’t remember Pires ever being shit.

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He was underwhelming in his first season though. 4 goals and 7 assists in 33 games. Often bullied off the ball too IIRC. Compared to 9 goals and 15 assists in 28 games in his second season. He became much more of a dominant player after that first season.