Is Nicolas Pepe done for at Arsenal? by Shenel
After Willian transferred from Chelsea over this transfer window, although he has experience playing in the Premier League, I was very surprised at how he performed against Fulham only because it was his first game at a different club, clearly, he wasn’t affected one bit by his transfer over to North London.
Having now seemed to have cemented his place in the team, giving us pace and creativity over on the wings, something which was pretty much lacking for a while, could it be said that Pepe will struggle even more to get into the first team? If Willian can produce week in week out, then I fail to actually see when Pepe will get his chance to play up front alongside Aubameyang and Lacazette. We know he is capable of being able to slot in to the team but will Arteta switch something that seems to have worked well?.
Yes, Arteta isn’t afraid of making changes, but we also know he prefers to keep the team relatively the same if he sees that it is working. I would myself like to see Pepe come through as a star player this season because I want him to be able to justify the price that we have paid for him. Of course it takes time for a player to settle once transferring but given that Willian took no time to produce what we know he is capable of, especially against Fulham, in a team full of talent and experience. If you are a talent yourself then in all honesty it shouldn’t be very hard to be able to show what you are capable of doing.
It remains to be seen how long it will take for Pepe to gain a starting spot in the first team, but he really does need to prove himself this season, otherwise come this time next season he will probably be sold for lack of game time and goals.
Gooners?
Shenel Osman
Its called competition and that is football. If you are good enough you play, if you aren’t you dont, at least it should be.
If Willian’s performance on Saturday night “cemented his position on the team” then I wouldn’t want to be living in that house when the wind is blowing.
If anything, Willian’s performance would have give Pepe hope that if he works hard and produces then he can earn back his position.
Actually, if Arteta is true to his word, the performance of virtually the whole starting XI on Saturday night would give the same hope to most of the first team who didn’t start.
Spot on, Trudeau! 👍
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Willian hasn’t cemented anything.. Before he cements anything he’ll have to perform the way he did against Fulham every match day.
He’s purely competition for Pepe.
Now you guys are asking if Pepe would lose his spot?
I thought you guys said Willian was brought in by Arteta to be our AM just like he was at Shaktar Donetsk… Lol.
Willian’s ass would be back to the bench if he doesn’t perform and Pepe picks up back
I wasn’t one of those who said Willian should be used as a CM but your “I told you so” regurgitation is starting to seem a bit off. You’ve said it and Arteta proved you right, move on already. Damn. The know it all nature can be off-putting sometimes. Keep that ego in check man. Best of luck to you
Nice one Trudeau.With so much natural talent, I would hope that our coaching team headed by MA will able to bring out the best in Pepe.Personally i would not confine him to the right wing where he is predictable, but play him on the left flank or, even try him as a CF?
I agree but also maybe I would try him in the middle with 2 defensive players behind him in a 4213 but I’m not sure that’s the formation that Arteta is aiming for .
It’s not fair to bench Pepe when we have other areas to strengthen. AMN, Xhaka, Cebalos, Holding, Kola, Elnheny can all start but not Pepe, which seems quite strange. We don’t look for improvement in areas in which we r poor but try to improve which we already are good at. It might b that Arteta wants to stamp his authority by keeping our most expensive signing at bay which might prove too expensive for us.
Maybe Arteta has been told by the board not to play him because he cost too much. 🤑🤑🤑
But all those players mentioned here play in a different position to that of Pepe. Else, we would be comparing Pepe to a goalkeeper soon.
Any other courageous manager would definitely be starting him week in week out along Auba, Willian and Lacazette.
This bul**** our coach is doing is for cowards.
Am afraid when a super talented player is benched often, he loses his form and confidence and it’s very difficult to recover. Examples; Bale, Pogba, Ozil etc.
But we still have 6points out of 6 ,nothing cowardly about that .
Mr Dan, am afraid this “small team” mentality (of over cautiousness) is what is affecting arsenal.
Big teams assemble their best players regardless of whom they are playing.
I can guarantee our best 11 with those 4 included would have gotten us the 3 points without all this unnecessary hassle and tassel.
Problem though Herbz is that he does not have the players yet at his disposal which he believes he needs to play what formation and team he thinks can toe to toe with the best ,let’s not forget he has already won us a FA cup with a team that that was in the worst state in our clubs history ,you like so many need a lot more patience before we see the fruits of his labour
👍 Dan, exactly – work in progress.
Lol… Arsenal fans
Arteta is not bull……… He ain’t no coward. He has proven his ability to stand top teams so far and he is ambitious.
It is Pepe rather who has been bull…….. with his games for us. He has not really played as expected and needs to sit up. Arteta has given him several opportunities and I believe he still will give him more.
Pepe needs competition to sit up.
If he doesn’t lift up his game and Arteta gets the team completely fixed, he may even struggle to get on the bench not to talk of getting some play time.
I believe a 433 formation will do, 2X CD, 2X WINGER BACK, 1X CDM, 1X CM, 1X AM, 1X FL, 1x FR and Cf.
We have the team to do that. With that formationn we can play Willian at AM, Aub at FL, Pepe FR and Laca.
something is amiss with Peppe . He gets confused often like running aimlessly with the ball and not knowing what to do next till dispossessed. You can see the talent, desire and work ethic but the result is missing. I hope MA figures things out with him by moving him around and/or teaching him how to pass the ball on time. Counting on Willian to perform each week at a high level is a losing proposition.