Nicolas Pepe is one player Arsenal didn’t need!
Am I the only one who has been wandering what Pepe’s impact has been at the club so far? Hope I won’t be too harsh on Pepe if I asked what his purpose at Arsenal was? I feel Pepe was just a stupid show of intent! If we really wanted to show our intentions to win the league, then we should have signed a world class defender who we really needed, and not another attacker; that we never lacked.
Thank goodness I am not the only one who has questioned our summer business; Danny Murphy, a former England international, has also come out to question how we would splash so much money to strengthen a department that never really needed strengthening.
“Recruitment is poor,” he said on Sky Sports’ The Debate yesterday “They went and spent £70million on a winger who only had one good season.
“They didn’t need any attacking players as they had two of the best strikers in Europe.”
You are absolutely spot on Danny! Apart from having two of the best strikers in Europe, we also had and still having attacking ammunitions from the midfield and the wing. Last season, we had Alex Iwobi who was a good squad material. Selling Iwobi and buying Pepe, was not a wise piece of business to me. We could have spent such huge amount of money to strengthen our defence and defensive midfield department, and kept Alex Iwobi for at least another year. Who is on this with me?
Nicolas Pepe may turn out to be an excellent acquisition but time and patience, are not his allies at this particular time at Arsenal. Nicolas Pepe may have lit up the French league last season, but as far I am concerned, we were too much in a hurry to splash so much money on a one-season wonder. Who is really in charge of finances at Arsenal? Does he need financial support?
At this critical time of the season, we need players who can make an impact and from the look of things, Pepe has not proven to be such a player.
Sylvester Kwentua (Lagos Gooner)
He needs time and it is difficult to tell how good he could be given the current trouble at Arsenal. I think Emery has squeezed the life out of this squad which is now playing confused and tentative.
Would anyone be surprised if Pepe would shine under a Klopp or Pep?
No doubt, though, that Zaha was the lower risk option given he experience in the PL
Pepe might be play better under Klopp or Guardiola, because they both have better systems than Arsenal’s
Arsenal should have looked in EPL next time
Don’t blame Pepe for not making an impact, blame Emery for screwing up the entire team. Pepe has nor been given the chance to settle in and to know the players around him because the team is completely different every time it runs on. There’s a limit to what you can expect in the circumstances.
Nah, he isn’t a waste of time. He has come to a new league and under a very confusing coach. He will start firing once we will have a coach who plays with conviction and knows what to do as well convey the same to the players properly.
If he is not careful he is going to end up like The Shirt Selling Genius.
Careful Pepe.
Give the boy a chance. When things are not going well don’t begin blaming everything you have.
Such blame is doing more harms. You will see more players leaving for when they make simple mistake the whole fans come with chant of selling or benching him.
Remember Gnabry case please.
We all know where we should have strengthened and that was in defence. Pepe has shown glimpses of what he can do but I expect more from a 24 year old. Hopefully one season in the PL will get him going as a number of top signings over the years have taken time to settle in fairness. The reason he cant be carried now is because the team is playing as though they either don’t understand the structure or are not capable of delivering. Either way its not working and it needs to be sorted. I think rather than impose his ideas he should have taken more time to understand the strengths and weaknesses of individuals before playing his way. He needs to address this now and start playing experienced players in the Europa league to get stability back and confidence through the team. Chopping and changing does not help anyone.
Buying, selling and contracts has been a big problem for us for many years. It is one of the key areas we need to fix if we ever want to compete at the top again. We had so many holes in our squad last summer with10 players leaving, it never seemed wise to me to splash out so much cash on one player. I think we could’ve bought 2 and possibly even 3 good players for that amount. A CB and DM would’ve been good but we did need a winger. I’m sure Tierney will prove to be a good LB but a RB was a greater priority. Bringing in a youngster like Ceballos on loan was also a mistake. We needed a couple of experienced proven prem league midfielders to guide our younger players. Sadly not enough money to do it all. Pepe may come good as It’s early days for him yet.
So any real sane person will say Arsenal never needed a winger? Even if I don’t agree with his price tag, it’s so stupid to say Pepe Is a player we didn’t need.
We kept on Shuffling, Mhki, Ozil, Ramsey on the right wing. We kept on complaining how there was no width in the team. Suddenly Pepe is a player we didn’t need?
I believe if anyone had said okay we should’ve sort the defense first then sort out the wings after, things would be cool but to say Pepe is a player Arsenal didn’t need is the Dumb than Dumber.
Everyone of you and your cats kept singing give Emery time, give him a season, but we’re not even halfway into the season, and yet you’re already casting doubts, writing the guy off, why ? cus he costs us 72million. Did he asked for the 72million price tag?
Spot on Eddie. It’s really funny to say we did not need a winger when the whole of last season we were clamoring for one. Now we bought one we start shifting posts. Quite crazy indeed. Would we expect Pepe to perform when all the players including the “old ones” are also struggling? Can we name one single player that is performing well at the moment?
Lacas first season, Henry’s first 9 games… Come on, not a single player is playing well atm.
On the other hand, we did not need the signing. We need a propper defensive midfielder, and well defenders overall. So on that part i agree.
But we got Pepe, and hopefully he will improve, along with the whole team!
All good points made regarding Pepe “Beloved Arsenal fans”. AS we know our Coach is “out-of-his-depth” ie. has little clue who to play, when to play them or where to play them. The BOARD continue to accept MEDIOCRITY and they are to blame for not TAKING ACTION to sack Emery weeks ago. Look at Spurs after last night with another positive result with their new coach and renewed “CONFIDENCE” within their team. Mourinho in now 2 for 2… OUR BOARD continue to be “COWARDS” in all honesty and it’s extremely disappointing to watch the lack of confidence in the team.
Currently Pepe is a big flop, but I still have a big hope in him
A left-footed RW was highly required, because we didn’t have that kind of attacker. Ozil’s fans also blamed the managers for not giving Ozil great wingers to work with
However, Pepe could only have six months left to prove his worth. If Nuno Espirito Santo joins Arsenal, I’d like him to bring Adama Traore in to push Pepe work harder
It hasn’t worked so far. However, he was necessary. If he settles down and composes himself he can be devastating. Nothing is working at the moment. He seems to be low on confidence. However, in a free flowing attack minded side he would be a great addition. One hopes he won’t suffer the fate that salah faced at Chelsea. Wrong club at wrong time
I would say so
I understand the concern but let’s not forget that it was said that we had the best transfer window. They don’t all work out as intended but there’s no point coming in afterwards with the 20/20 vision. Spending 70m on a CB doesn’t make it more of a guarantee than other positions. He can still be a big player and he was intended for the future, very promising and having two of the best strikers helping him out. We did sign a quality CB but we had to wait, have to wait still. I’m more upset about the Luiz signing at this stage, he did he ever look like someone you’d want or need to come in and calm the waters. Pepe has time on his side, Henry didn’t hit the ground running neither, Salah took over a season. The early introduction and the hijinks going on is not the best environment, he’s scored some goals and some assists all the same, and has a good set-piece in him, can’t say that for everyone.
Seems Arsenal let one duffer go to Everton and brought in another duffer to replace him. We let Aaron Ramsey go when he was the only midfielder we had who could score regularly and replaced him with the likes of Ceballos and Guendozi who could be good for one goal a season if we are lucky.
Duffer 😂
But which Arsenal player has had an impact this season?I dont expect him to thrive in the current environment
I think Tierney and Martinelli have made positive contributions in their limited appearances and will go on to be excellent acquisitions.Pepe is a very talented winger who has been unfortunate in that he has arrived at a time when the side has glaring weaknesses in defence and midfield.With a wonderful left foot I cannot understand why he never ventured over to his natural side where he can run and cross without having to double back.The current obsession with inverted wingers has been overplayed and overhyped.I would like to see Pepe used as a conventional left winger ,where backed up by Tierney he could cause havoc.There is no doubt that Arsenal have paid a high premium for Pepe and despite a disappointing start to his career with Arsenal my gut tells me he will come good.
Pepe has potential but he wasn’t greatest need by a fair stretch. That is part of why people are being so hard on him – as if a winger can mask the back end – and he has not delivered much as of yet.
I agree on needs and world class would be great if we can find, convince and/or afford. I would settle for good defenders, upgrades on our existing crew. The shopping may have to be a bit more pragmatic.