Is Auba playing as shitty as he did against Watford on Arteta? It’s becoming increasingly clear that he is likely done as a top striker.
Or is Partey being a constant sick note and having consistency issues?
Pepe has failed to convince since day one, he hasn’t proven to be an excellent player in three seasons in the PL. He just isn’t that guy, some of you go ahead and can keep hoping though. Maybe it’ll come true when he turns 30.
I think at this stage it’s clear that it’s a little from column A and a little from column B.
Willian has been Arteta only attacking signing and he tanked after a productive PL season.
Did he suddenly fall off a cliff too or was he suffocated by Arteta’s coaching and tactics?
It’s just a fact a better coach gets more out of our current offensive pieces, it bananas people dispute this in the face of tons of evidence.
Who’s disputing it? That’s clearly not the argument being made.
It can be both. Pepe can be a bust playing for a mediocre coach.
I’m willing cut Pepe slack to a certain extent whilst many here aren’t, nobody has ever questioned his commitment, effort or work ethic. In my view, the onus is on the coach to get the best of players at his disposal.
That’s where we differ then, you think there’s so much more to come from him.
From what I’ve seen of him with regard to his general play and numerous deficiencies in his game I don’t see much more there except an odd goal here and there mixed in with overall poor displays. As for work ethic etc those aren’t exactly things that will be shouted from the roof tops by the coaching staff.
It’s funny, most of his supporters continue to ignore his woeful general play and numerous holes in his game. Blame is mostly laid at the feet of the coach, little to no accountability for him.
In three seasons he hasn’t established himsef, in which season will he be responsible for his own perofrmances?
Do we really need to rely on a player who needs a certain setup to perform?
We are no longer a one manager club anymore. Managers will come and go. Do we really need to hope that Pepe will be compatible with a manager’s philosophy?
What sort of professional footballer is he?
If Pepe can’t even fend off competition from two youngsters like Saka & ESR, what will he do if someone like Sterling comes in?
If you think it is a system problem, What attributes have Pepe shown in Arsenal colours? Not a good dribbler, not a good passer, easily dispossessed. I will give him good finishing but that’s the best I could do.
Not good enough as a football player. Not good enough as a 70m football player.
Hopefully departs while the Sterling train arrives 
Choo-fuckin-choo!
Exactly, that’s what I’ve been getting at.
If he’s such a player that needs so many things to go right for him and this mythical perfect environment to even have a sniff at being a good player then he was essentially a pointless signing, for that money you need someone who can perform in spite of, carry the team on occasion and being a focal point in the attacking third.
Like you say what has he shown that makes some believe it’s a system issue? His general play is awful. Now if it was a case where he had a good base level and he had a refined and technically sound game with good IQ I could buy there could be a significant jump with a better coach. However, that’s not the case.
A top coach would have even less patience.
Bit of a misnomer really, particularly when his coaches at Arsenal have been Emery and Arteta who are C/D level coaches at best with multiple flaws in their methods/personality.
I’d love to see Pepe under a offensive coach with proven track record of producing attacking football consistently, then I would come to definitive verdict on him.
Again the premise is false here, it’s become clear Arteta has his favourites and Saka is one of them. Not even his biggest supporter would argue against the idea that Saka has been unproductive and below average this season so far minus the Spurs game, yet he keeps his place regardless.
People were saying move Saka to the RW where’s he’s best and the results have been below average if that since.
Pepe isn’t in competition with ESR, He’s featured on the left a handful of times
Stats don’t lie, he was the 2nd best offensive player for this team last season when given a proper run. 2nd best min/goal conversion rate and shot conversion rate whilst contributing double figure goals. Check the numbers
He generates offensive production and more importantly he scores goals despite his low efficiency style of play, you’d think a side struggling for goals would value that ?
Scored most of those goals when the pressure was off and our season was over. Also scored a good number against farmers in the Europa.
Why do you continue to ignore his woeful general play? Is it Aetetas fault he can’t consistently beat his man, doesn’t have consistent good decision making, can’t retain possession effectively, coasts in games etc? These things matter to coaches no matter how good they are.
To be the kind of player that relies solely on production with sloppy general play you better be like Alexis i.e. a production monster whose presence is keenly felt throughout games. Not just pop up with a goal after an anonymous game like its a badge of honour. And Aleixs’ game was nowhere near as bad.
The trade off isn’t worth it and I don’t see that changing for a better coach.
I think we have proven time and again that stats do lie.
Exhibit A - Arsenal going unbeaten for double digit numbers with Mustafi in defence
That stat alone is what made me stop trusting the numbers and also lose faith in a higher power.
That’s also the only time he got a protracted run in the side though.
Eh, over the season he’d racked up a decent amount of minutes.
There was one period where he got a consistent run of games and scored like 4 goals in 17 most of them starts.
Half of his goals in the PL came in the last 3 games of the season, this goal involvement thing flatters to deceive IMO
I don’t think anyone is saying Pepe is going to become prime Bale or Mo Salah however Pepe does have the skill set if utilised properly to contribute a high number of goals and some assists, As is evidenced by his 17 goals and 3 assists in all competitions last season, arguably our worst season in living memory, playing some of the most flaccid attacking football in our history. And thus under the right system, him, Auba, Laca and Saka should have enough about them offensive wise to at least contribute between 10-15 goals each which would be enough to propel us into a top 4 place. As it stands we have scored less goals than Newcastle who are bottom of the league, and it isn’t just Pepe with the exception of ESR all of our attacking players have regressed in a major way.
Like I said before, and others have pointed out, if it was just Pepe then fine but it is every single one of our offensive players. Me and others have been saying for nearly 2 years that if you want to get the most out it Pepe and Auba then you have to change the system, can’t expect them to be deeper than our midfielders for the majority of the game pressing and helping out the full back then go on to score a brace each every match.
No coach seems to think the trade off is worth it.
Why is that going to change for a better coach? Yeah he can inconsistently contribute goals but his general performance will be poor and how does that help the team? He does not impose himself on games and that’s a foundation of the best wide players.
If you can’t trust him to do basics and not have the play break down around him then why would you select him consistently? Even in that season at Lille what half his league goals were penalties?
And I’m not sure I agree with you there about the goals. Auba looks like he’s declined Arteta or no Arteta. Saka is a poor finisher and Lacazette shouldn’t be starting every game.
I don’t think such a system exists unless in a video game.
Pepe we could get more out of I think, but he does have flaws and it’s a bust signing that should never have happened for 70 mill in the washup. It’s probably better at seasons end that we cut ties and recoup hopefully some sort of reasonable fee.
Auba has struggled under Arteta no doubt, I also think he has declined as a footballer irrespective of manager, he’s 32 now and I think he wouldn’t be top tier anymore in any system.
I’m not even sure about looking at our attackers as a collective tbh. Aubameyang etc actually have history and records that suggest a coach should be getting more out of them.
Pepe was a signing (with a inflated goal record from pens) from a club desperate for wide men (our main wide man was Iwobi ffs) hoping to explode as a player but is painfully average and has rough footballing play.