Nicolas Pepe has acknowledged the significant assistance he received from Mikel Arteta when the manager initially arrived at the club.
Pepe, who has struggled to make a notable impact at the Emirates Stadium, was loaned out to Nice during the previous season. As a result, his future at Arsenal remains uncertain, and he has encountered a decline in playing time under Arteta over the past few seasons.
Despite the challenges, Arteta provided Pepe with numerous opportunities to showcase his talent and prove himself as a top player. Unfortunately, Pepe was unable to seize those chances, leaving his future prospects in doubt.
There were speculations among certain fans that Arteta didn’t have faith in the former Lille player from the moment he joined the club, leading to a strained relationship. However, Pepe has dismissed these claims, indicating that they are baseless and unfounded.
He said via Planet Sport:
“He helped me in every way, on a tactical level, in terms of game intelligence because his philosophy requires a lot of intelligence. He knew my style of play wasn’t waiting in possession, it was cutting inside, it wasn’t waiting out on the right.
“Before, I was a bit freer. I had to wait in my zone, and I wasn’t like that before. These are parts of my game that he tried to improve. He always wanted to help me with all of that.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Pepe has simply been too poor for us and the Ivorian knows he has missed his chance to make a name with our shirt.
After signing new players, we need to focus on offloading some deadwood and he should be among the first to leave.
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Despite his circumstances, he still shows respect, humble indeed, will he be given one last bite at the cherry
I only wish some here in JA would show the same respect to our players!
So do I @Ken1945 but it might be too much to ask for,from some fans on JA.
I agree ken and it starts with Admin Martin referring to Pepe as “deadwood”, given the goals and assists he has contributed to Arsenal for the onfield minutes he has played.
Yes Pepe, may have cost a lot (a decision in which he had no part) and appears to be unable to play in the style Mikel Arteta requires, but to label Pepe “deadwood” is unfair in my opinion. “Surplus to requirements” is a preferable term.
I only wish some here on JA show the same respect to our manager. Now that we have heard it from the player that Mikel did his best to improve him, the fellas slating Mikel should put or shut up for good. Mile is impartial and has no favorites. Perform or perish. Shape up or ship out is his mantra. The players know it, the fans should learn it as well if they are real fans.
OT:out of curiosity I checked the stats of Pépé at Arsenal and compared them to players with similar or higher fees ,playing on the wings.
Pépé: Fee 72M/89 appearances/24 goals/15 assists.
Jason Sancho:73M£ plus adds on/appearances 79/12 goals/6 assists.
Antony:fee 83M£ plus 5M on adds on.
39 appearances/7 goals/2 assists.
I’d like to precise that I used appearances and not playing time which both Sancho and Antony had more of it(on averages).despite all this Pépe has better stats than both of them.sadly,unfairly…,one thing he got/gets more than both of them is criticism,mocking being called a flop and the likes.also,we shouldn’t forget that he played in a different Arsenal team to the one we now have.my point is that with the team we now have,he could have a role to play as a squad player, surrounded by better players,this should help him a lot.lastly,knowing that he is not the main player, fans,staff having lowered their expectations for him,less pressure/no longer being the most expensive Arsenal player.this could help him a lot ,not as much pressure,feeling freer…I think we should give him another chance.especially next season playing and hopefully seriously competing in several cups competitions.
Says someone who pretended he hadn’t heard or read what Arteta himself admitted about Saliba.
Before preaching to others first be a man enough to agree when you are wrong. But that is asking too much isn’t it?
Yes he seems to be humble.
But the bottom line is that he will be gone almost cerrtainly this summer. I pray he is gone anyway, for our sake and for his, since he is not up to our level!
Nicolás Pepe ,llegó como una gran carta ofensiva..a reforzar nuestro equipo,tal vez, la abusmantw diferencia de estilo y ritmo entre el fútbol de la ligue one, respecto a la premier League,se refleja en la pobre adaptación o jugador a la exigencia suprema de la competencia ,porque muchos buenos jugadores por muy líricos y hábiles jamás podrán adaptarse a la adrenalina y estilo de la mejor liga del mundo
y jugar en el Arsenal siempre será un desafío que implica adaptarse y ser Resilente al cambio ,y ha poder sobrevivir a la
Vorágine de la misma,dónde los árbitros dejan jugar y el no estaba capacitado para competir y reconoce que Arteta trato de ayudarle ,pero no fue suficiente ,no tenía la clase por ara sobrevivir,lo mejor es que vaya a una liga menos exigente donde pueda recomenzar…su carrera…
All I take away from Pepe statement is that is he was forced to play in a way that simply didn’t suit him and wouldn’t get the best out of him.
You don’t buy a player for 72mil as a club then tell them to not do what they did to get the 72mil price tag in the first place…it’s completely illogical.
With MA’s it’s my way or the highway” approach it was a disaster waiting to happen.
This is where I find the fault with MA and Edu. You don’t want a player….fine. You don’t like a player….fine. You don’t need a player….fine. All understandable but then just sell the player as soon as possible and take what you can get as early as you can get and both move on….this constant dragging things like this out of years is such a drain on everybody and the finances.
You talk as if there has been a buyer and the club refused to sell. How many clubs wanted him on loan?. The man is telling you the coach has tried to help play better in his system but you are here twisting everything. Guardiola told the media Walker was benched because he can’t play the system. Cancelo was also axed. But, if Arteta axe a player that can’t play his system it’s because he is dictator and an authoritarian. Was not disappointed with your comment though.
I know you can read,but you must work on comprehension.
I fully understand why MA didn’t want Pepe but AS I SAID….just sell for whatever you could get which is the part you are clearly missing. If he was sold straight after his 2 half decent seasons with us we would’ve easily been able to get 20-25 at least….this would’ve been a large financial loss but would it have been worse that the situation we are in now for both player and club? NO
How many clubs wanted him or wants him now?.
PJ-SA, I think the difficulty in selling Pepe was the high wages he was paid at Arsenal.
Your first comment didn’t seem to imply you understand the reasons arteta didn’t want him but rather described an authoritarian who needs to bend to the will of his players even if they don’t seem to fit in to the possession based style he tries to make his team play. As to selling him, don’t you think if there were offers for him , we would have heard about it.
Okay mate, the next time there is a manager vacancy for any club, each player will have to interview the manager to see if he fits the player’s profile and ego, then collectively the 25 players should recommend their preference of the coach. Makes perfect sense! Did you mention this to the sacked one?
I agree with your first paragraph
Your second doesn’t take into account that Pepe was signed by Sanhelli and not by Emery which had the knock on effect of Arteta’s philosophy not working for Pepe after he got the job.
Your last paragraph – I understand where you’re coming from with the only caveat being that Arteta obviously did try to utilise Pepe and Covid was with us and getting players moved on for a fee was very difficult
To PJ-SA
Deserves respect for saying this. I think it’s very likely we will at least try to sell him this summer, but he’s doesn’t show any bitterness about his situation, just humility and respect. It’s easy to be like that when the manager is picking you and things are going your way, but not so much when you’re struggling and have been sent away on loan.
Pepe is a good player. The bitter issue here is he was bought expensive but unfortunately he didn’t deliverd what we wanted. Now the question is somebody can’t be pardoned even after this successful loan?? I’m sure he’ll prove many doubters wrong.
👍 Pepe should thrive under the right manager and a system which utilizes his strengths.
So what some of ya are saying is that, we chain our identity and style to suit Pepe? what about the rest of the team, is that how we will tweak here and there to accommodate players?
I also wouldn’t say his loan was successful. May be fairly okay?.
Pepe has no place i this team unless he can play like the rest of the team. Even Xhaka had to adapt to fit in.
* change
It would have been nice if the whole interview had been posted.i mean, it’s not like it was a large one.
In the same interview Pépé also said.
I was a substitute for [what felt like] 10 matches. It was at the time when they signed Willian. He is a number 10 or a winger. But he plays on the wing for like 11 or 12 matches in a row.
“My head turned, knowing that I had spoken with the coach and it wasn’t like that.
“But that improved in the sense that he gave me a chance, I scored against Sheffield United at the Emirates. The confidence started to come back. I started to speak better, but it was a bit cold.