Nicolas Pepe repays Mikel Arteta’s faith in him with an impressive display.
Nicolas Pepe played arguably his best game for Arsenal in the Premier League against Manchester United. The Ivorian scored a goal and made one from a corner kick as Arsenal earned their first win under Mikel Arteta.
The team has improved since the former Arsenal captain was named their new manager and it appeared only a matter of time before things would get better.
After the game, Pepe revealed that Arteta pulled him aside and had a one-on-one conversation with him before the match about his readiness for the match with United.
He would go on to have a good game thanks to Mikel Arteta’s man-management skill.
Pepe told RMC per the Daily Mail: ‘I had a discussion with the coach this morning and he told me I was going to start and asked if I felt ready and stuff like that.
‘I told him I felt ready. I showed tonight that I was ready.
‘As well, today it is my mother’s birthday, I score today, so it is only positive for me and the team.’
He also praised their new system under Arteta as the Spaniard has improved their game since he came.
‘This one feels a lot better. We scored twice, we conceded zero goals. This will really do a lot for everyone’s confidence levels.
‘We are doing a lot, a lot of video during training in order to perform well during the match. Today we performed well, we were solid defensively, we were good going forward.
‘It is all new for us. A new system, new instructions. We are adapting quickly.
‘That has been seen in the last three matches, even though we did not win, we were very good, we were just missing the victory, which we were able to do tonight. We need to continue like this.
‘Now we have to go on a run to get to this top four that we need to do.’
It was a great performance from Pepe and the good thing is that there will be more to come, he is just too talented to remain mediocre and the more game time he gets the more he will adapt and improve.
A lot of videos during videos? Sounds like Emery’s method of teaching his players
The difference is Emery has never learned directly from Guardiola
When Arteta’s honeymoon is over, I just hope the players still train as hard as what Pepe described. They need that for the upcoming three away games after the Leeds game
He played really well yesterday.
Pepe believes in making top 4 and so do i but as he said we have to go on a winning streak.
So Chambers out of the action, we definitely need a defender now. We have CBs in Holding, Luiz, Sokratis, Mustafi, Mavropanos. Maybe Mustafi could be sold on.
If Xhaka won’t move, then our possible 2 players incoming should be CB and LB.
As January is hard to get players, I would go for:
LB – Kurzawa, less than 10m
CB – Demiral, if available, for around 20-30m
Tierney out until March.. I’m not trusting Kolasinac staying fit until then. And I dont think Upamecano will be available.. I mean he’s a Leipzig starter and they lead Bundesliga!
Also interesting players available, probably very cheap:
Giroud, ST
Clyne, RB
Meunier, RB
Bowen, RW
Mertens, LF
According to someone here, Upamecano is slow. Arsenal need to scout him thoroughly first, if they are interested
Saliba looks prone to injury as well. Probably we need six CBs because they often get injured
Gotnoidea – Yes i said he was slow, reason being is that he was one of the most dribbled past player in the Bundesligue in 2018/19 so that puts a question over his speed and agility! And the Bundesligue is probably 50% intensity levels of the Premier League so i’m not sure he is any better than Chambers!
Stick to proven English hardcore defenders like Dunk and Tarkowski!
Good game but After A has to tell him that he can also shoot to the left of goalkeepers instead of always shooting to their right otherwise very soon they will figure him out. Currently 100% of Pepe’s shots are directed to the right of goalkeepers. Too easy to figure out.
Not too easy as it seems. It’s all about the body positioning while shooting. Pepe’s body clearly deceived De Gea who went completely in the wrong direction for that shot.
Messi shoots to the right of goal keepers all the time and they still don’t have a clue.
Arteta I meant.
So, the players believe they can still make the top four. The question is, do the fans believe?
The way the team plays after yesterday will help us all, believers or not. I believe.
Mathematically possible. While we live, we breathe.
Pepe has to also learn to actually shot the ball in addition to his current practice of curling the ball to the top corner. That will give him more options.
Restless, replay his actual goal and tell me if he curled or shot?
From what I saw, the only thing missing is the confidence to go one on one with the defender (happened so many times in the first half)…MA will soon sort that one out – we have a £70,000,000 player about to blossom out!!!
If that is what he feels comfortable doing then that is his trademark. He will score goals, he is greedy and he is keen to provide. His positional play out of possession will get better the more games he plays but he is a maverick and doesn’t need realing in a coaching too much just letting him get on with it and blossom. I actually love watching him because he is so loose cannon on the ball but his teammates seem to know what he is going to do but defenders dont.
great game. I believe there is still plenty of room for improvement for pepe and the whole arsenal squad. consistence must be key. I cannot wait for the crystal palace game. see if this kind of enthusiasm can continue. otherwise at least I smiled through the new year.
👍
very nice
I wonder why our players decline under Emery except martineli
and guendouzi, who ironically is off lately n d other injured,now everyone have turnaround,even Niles is now doing like mendy
pepe is such afantastic player who needs time