He’s shit
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Hes clearly talented and has shown glimpses of this. Admittedly I’ve been disappointed with him this season, as most have been, but this isnt the season to make a definitive judgement on him. I’m confident he’ll come good.
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Ahem… penis. 
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feck me “clearly talented”?
you’d blinking well 'ope so for £72 mil geez
Absolutely, but I’m guessing you want to raise another print so you’re best just doing that lol
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I think some people have made their mind up on him and that’s that. They’re convinced he’s shit so they’ll use any opportunity they can get to express that.
What I know is that he hasn’t shone bright but he’s shown glimpses of his capability. Many before him have struggled initially and gone on to shine. You’d hope with greater structure in our squad and strength around him we’ll have a real gem. But I think he deserves some good grace from fans given the season we’ve had and the circumstances under which he arrived.
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He has elite level technique and close control but his movement off the ball and decision making seems well off. There’s potential he rights that, it’s a new division after all
Pepe does have natural talent, there’s no doubt about it. And I don’t think many people question that. Think the question is whether he can perform in this league. Many talented big money signings have flopped in this league and performed well elsewhere. And as a general rule, most highly paid players(who are bound to do well here) hit the ground running sometime during their first season. But there are a few exceptions, and we hope Pepe is one of those.
Objectively speaking, Pepe has neither been dog shit, nor has he shown the value for his worth. Though his slightly improved performances of late have shown promise, he still has a lot(and I mean a lot) to improve.
His price tag has raised expectations, it’s definitely a factor. But when you pay for a Ferrari, you expect it to run like a Ferrari.
And I understand the team being dysfunctional hasn’t helped him. But we see many quality players shine in horse shit dysfunctional teams every day. That alone shouldn’t be a defining factor, though he has just come in and I believe it must’ve been a little hard for him.
But still, to come from a relatively less competitive league and to adapt to the physical nature of the premier league, it’s undoubtedly tough. I had made up my mind right when we signed him that I was gonna give him a pass of sorts this season. But next season, right from the start, I’ll be watching a lot closely how he does.
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Very fair young fella
But I don’t see how he can a make a step change from his current level by the start of next season
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French talent has proven again and again that the jump from Ligue 1 to the Premier League is nothing. Premier League history is littered with French (/African) greats.
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Think a major factor he’s not performing as expected, which I forgot to mention in my post, is that his confidence seems pretty low right now. I know performing well and gaining confidence is a vicious circle and star players perform when they’re down and subsequently raise their confidence, but I’d still like to see how he begins next season.
If it’s a confidence issue that lies at the root of his problems, he’ll do well once he gets over it. And I’d hope it is one, because I sure hope it’s not that he’s just not meant for this league.
I’m not talking about French players though, as those players could’ve been playing in Italy/Spain/Germany before they arrived to England. I’m talking about players who came directly from the French league, be it any nationality.
I know some players from the so called “lesser leagues” have come and done well in England right away. But I think we’re mostly talking about exceptions rather than the general rule in that case.
I’ll bet you a fiver he plays exactly the same next season - not a tough call, its only a few weeks away
His output hasn’t been terrible. In all comps 8 goals and 8 assists. That’s not terribly bad for a first year in the prem. If he doesn’t kick on from that I’d be disappointed but as an early doubter myself, I was one calling him the next Gervinho, I think he’s done pretty good for a guy who’s made his PL debut and played under 3 different managers now. It doesn’t help that he’s basically playing on a mid table team, we’ve done him no favors with as bad as we’ve been.
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So have Saka, Tierney, Martinelli and Nketiah.
If we only look at our own club we have Sagna, Koscielny in their first season and even Giroud was decent for what his talent was…the jump from Ligue 1 to Premier League is not difficult for players to make. Those weren’t even big signings.
With Pepe it’s more because he is fully dependant on his left leg and he has to transition from a counter-attacking set up to a team that sees the ball more. He seems very much too focused on the ball and his own actions. The League isn’t really the problem.
He’s supposed to help us not be a mid-table team.
Maybe I’m wrong about him, I hope I’m wrong about him but I just haven’t really seen much to get excited about yet. Everyone points to Pires needing time to settle and I accept it’s got to be incredibly hard to move to another country for work. I’d like to think that some of his issues are born out of our midfield being trash. I’d still cash out if Lille offered us our money back but I stan for Zaha over Pepe still. Emery and I will die on that hill.
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May be I didn’t make myself clear in my initial post, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned the league thing alone is the problem. It’s multifactorial. The league, being low on confidence, coupled with a dysfunctional team, and so on. However, I do partly agree with a point you’ve raised that the change in system hasn’t helped him and he seems to be too focused on his own actions alone rather than the attacking move as a whole. Yet, I still think that’s only a small factor, as many counterattack minded players have done well in possession based teams in the past and present.
Also, think his game hugely depends on having a right back who can overlap well and provide him the opportunity to move into the central areas to help link up with the forward/be more unpredictable on his forward runs, as he seems more of an inside forward rather than a true winger. Tbh with you, I haven’t made any concrete judgements about Pepe yet. But come December 2020, think I’ll be a lot more certain if he’s in or out.
Anyone who doesn’t agree with this is a penis.
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There once was a man named Enis
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