There is starting to be some murmurings about Nicolas Pepe and his performances to date for Arsenal, mainly from TV pundits, opposition fans and also from a few Arsenal fans.
The £72 Million record signing has yet to show his true capabilities in an Arsenal shirt and it is that transfer fee that seems to be getting people questioning his worth.
The 24-year-old was a roaring success in France for Lille last season and it was hoped he would replicate the form he displayed in Ligue 1 from the very start of his career in England, however, that was always going to be a little optimistic when you consider he had no pre-season and has to adapt to a brand new league, something that former Gunner Robert Pires has pointed out.
“With Lille, he was fantastic. Last season he was one of the best players, he scored 21 or 22 goals,” said Pires. “He’s a great player.
“Now he’s playing for Arsenal in the Premier League and he needs to adapt. It’s so difficult, very tough. So I want to say to the fans you need to be patient with Pepe.”
Pires knows what it is like to adapt to the English game and he should be listened to, it is ridiculous to start saying that Pepe is a waste of money at this moment in time.
Patience is required, Thierry Henry needed time, so did Dennis Bergkamp and so did Pires himself and it is clear for anyone that is prepared to be honest that Pepe is undoubtedly top quality.
The Ivory Coast forward has already shown us, in glimpses, what he can do and it is just a matter of time before he explodes on to the scene in style.
It just needs patience and those that are patient will be rewarded.
Oh we are patient with him, only thing is some fans are frustrated because we had to pay a huge fee for him and he’s yet to really win a game for us.
I mean look at PEA, was our record signing, wasted no time in getting the goals and everything, so most fans are just unimpressed with Pepe. I’m sure everyone expects him to come good.
PEA is a natural striker, you can’t compare him to a winger who came from French league, he’s a talented player am sure he will come good
Put Ozil in the same team for a few matches and watch him go
Bro this is not a dig at ozil,but are you talking about the same ozil who played with auba and laca last season and scored 2 assist?
The same Ozil who was messed around all season by our fantastic manager ,yes that one .
Looks like a few more are starting to not like the way he manages.
The coach is not perfect we all know that, but Ozil has been finished even before we appointed Emery, so now you are saying Emery is to blame for Ozil not playing well, soon it will be Torrera not covering for him or Auba not being in a good position to receive a pass from Ozil, the Ozil excuse lol.
You have noticed Torreira the last 8 months ?
How well is he playing ?
Emery is a busted flush the sooner the club notice it the better .
Name one player who as excelled under Emery ,and don’t say Auba as he’s been on fire since he joined .
The same Ozil, who has admitted himself that his season was disrupted by injury. Emery can be criticized for tactics, selections, substitutions etc, but how is this Emery’s fault?
I’m sure Pepe will be better and better, and will be great.. just need few months, he needs good chemistry with the others, not until next season to be great.
Good player,will give him.till December, no need rushing him….some people are simply impatient!!!..pepe will soon start peppering some teams
I don’t understand why Emery isn’t giving Martinelli a chance to show what he can do. I’m surprised he didn’t play at all in the Europa league game. I think it’s due time he gives either Martinelli or Saka chances to stake claim for the LW spot cause I don’t see Nelson being that man.
It’s seems to me like he is very lightweight. Against Watford he was being pushed over like he was a 16 year old lad.
But i can see glimpses of his hype. There seems to be a dangerous player in there is he can work on his strengths anf fight.
Still got a lot of time to come good.
I just hope he’s not a wrestler like Sokratis, too lazy to tackle properly, an idiot like Luiz, a complete dullard who doesn’t know where the penalty area is, lichstenier who couldnt tackle and never got out of second gear and even Torreria, who spends more time on the bench recovering from his country’s exploits than giving his all for the club, while being played out of position when selelcted….(meanwhile the favourite player, Xhaka, takes up his place)…all idle players being given a pass by fans who don’t want to admit we have bought even more “dross, lazy, uncommitted players” under this new regime.
Not one of the above have given anywhere near 100%%, just bone idle, lazy, mentally frail, ill looking players bleeding the club dry…let’s hope pepe, roughly a quarter of the over £225,000,000 spent on new players, doesn’t turn out to be just like these aformentioned players.
At this precise moment, Walcott at his worst showed more fight and commitment than pepe, but it is early days.
“lazy to tackle properly, an idiot like Luiz” That define Ozil sir not Luiz.
You really do have a problem with Ozil
You mention him in every post that you write
Go back to the Watford game how was that anything to do with Ozil ,and that’s the only game he’s played this season.
This is not about having problem with Ozil, I just hate hypocrites, Ken1945 mentioned Socrates being more of a wrestler than a footballer which I totally agreed with, he mentioned Luiz which i don’t have any question about, he now said Walcott at his best showed more character than Pepe who has only played 4 matches for us? If you can say Luiz is lazy then you also have to name Ozil is as simple as that, I mean how can someone call Luiz lazy but say nothing about Ozil, that’s being plain biased.
Well Jon we have been here before have we not? I was never Walcott biggest fan but there was no denying his final statistics for goals and assists per game played. He was the type of player who,like Ozil, has a very languid style that comes over as Lazy. Would Walcott have made a difference to us ladt season? I believe he would have.He gave us “ natural” width which is not something we had and until Saka joins Pepe in the team, is something we still have a short time to wait for.
So,as I’ve asked dozens of times, and will ask again,why did AW continue to pick Walcott if he was such a lazy player and why is Ozil starting games under Emery if he is the same bone idle lazy fraud who you continue to say he is
Jon, I only quote you when you say something wrong or embellish your opinions to look like facts…that’s why you’re probably right about me quoting your words quite often!!!
As for Lenohappy and the fact that he’s prepared to give UE to the end of the season to sort out the defence:
Well, if UE selects a player who was finished before he arrived, is lazy, looks ill and tired, plays him for 70 minutes, then drops him again, only to tell anyone who wants to know, that he wants him ready for Sunday’s game, then why worry about the DEFENCE? It’s UE we should be worried about!!!
If your son could spot it, then what on earth are you giving time to UE for? He’s already dropped Chambers for Luiz and Sokratis!!!!
As for Ozil, if the club sell him tomorrow, good luck to him and The Arsenal – perhaps his salary will pay for a medical team who can advise UE on lazy, dross, finished players…he seems to buy or loan enough of them himself it seems
Just go back and check how many of the players on Thursday were at The Arsenal before UE’s arrival…and, of that ten of the fourteen, how many were labelled dross, lazy, finished, mentally frail, looking ill and not giving 100% between you and Jon…let me know Lenohappy, I make it seven by the way.
Hypocritical – don’t make me laugh, just ask AMN, WILLOCK, SMITH-ROWE, XHAKA, KOLASINAC, MUSTAFI, CHAMBERS AND MARTINEZ and, of course, add Ozil to that list.
Respect for the depth of reply Jon-the fact I disagree with some points is what football opinions are about.
Let’s not forget I was not a Walcott fan and most certainly one of Wengers biggest critics on this site.
But let’s say Walcott offered 10 goals from out wide this season-would you tiakevthat return? I would if he provided assists and balance to Aubamayang and Lacazette.
The issue I’m feeling is exactly where are our goals coming from if not from those two? We need consistent scorers from our wide players and midfielders and I’m struggling to see where they are coming from.The tactics are not helping and the defence puts even more pressure on the attack.
Not a convincing start from Emery in his second season bearing in mind this is becoming his own team.With Bellerín Holding and Tierney on their way he will hope to have better defenders than we have now playing.But in my opinion he needs a fit,confident Ozil who just may save this Managers job.Creativity has been a thing of the past and that’s solely on this Manager.
Jon, I read your post above to Phil, such a pity that I can’t ask you why, when:
Wengers last ten years saw eight top two, three and four finishes in the premier league, threefa cup wins and eight CL qualifications, having to sell his best players and given peanuts to replace them, new stadium costs to contend with, the buyout from the kronkies, the loss of Dein and the introduction of Gazidis, the buying power of chelsea and city being introduced, the long term injuries, all this and yet you say he was “a damned poor manager”, would have loved to have seen your reasoning.
Now UE on the other hand has seen investments in his 17 months as coach of over £225,000,000, hasn’t had to sell any player he didn’t want to, seen no new investment like those of city and chelsea, has a wonderful stadium that his style of football has not seen him fill to capacity, get knocked out of both domestic cups at home to spuds and manure, lost a european final by being completely out witted in every department by a fellow coach and gained just one point from his last six games to achieve 50% of the the number of missed CL qualifications that AW failed to do in twenty two years…at least it looks like he will achieve SOMETHING that AW did, two seasons on the trot failing to qualify for the CL competition.
You cover UE’s dross buys well enough, but as for your reasoning for AW playing Walcott…I can only assume the same applies when UE played Xhaka, Ozil, Myk then?
Certainly UE must see 100% commitment with regards to Xhaka, Ozil and now, it seems, Mustafi, who of course he didn’t have to play on Thursday, along with pepe.
He really doesn’t have to play any one of them, come to that, but as he does, it follows he rates them.
It doesnt matter the length of time he has been in the job, when you set down the support from the kronkies, the mistakes made, the awful substitutions (many made at half time-hadn’t he choosen the first eleven then and others with five ten minutes left in a game) the tactics, the defence, favourite players – all things you castigate AW for time and time again.
Just as your refusal to see that AW’s last ten years were not the disaster you say they were, you also will not admit that your 100% total, no holds barred, backing for UE is also now appearing a wrong decision, just look at the FACTS Jon and, as I said in another post, the team that beat Franfurt on Thursday had ten players signed by the man you class as “damned poor manager” and it would have been two more if Bellerin and Holding had been match fit.
Weird really, when one is told UE inherited total dross and we can’t judge him until all the players he feels arent dross are gone…well, he’s playing so many of AW’s players, I guess (apart from mustafi) he’s made his decision- that and the twelve new players, plus the two on loan players are his choices now.
As I said Jon, what a pity we can’t debate the above, but as we watch city put 8 goals past Watford, the humiliation of only just managing to draw with them last Sunday is not a nice thing to contemplate.
I share your reservations JF but hope he proves us both wrong.He has real technical ability and pace but so have many others who have not made the grade at the highest level.I just wish Emery would use him as a conventional left winger when he can cause real problems by crossing on the run rather than an inverted right winger when defenders know he will turn inside to use his left foot.Young Saka proved my point by his display on Thursday.
Grandad, your insurance on straight rather than inverted wingers is baffling and I really hope you can read and respond to this comment . First, as a question , if you think it’s easier for “less skilled players” to play as straight wingers ,why is there very few of those in world football ?
Secondly .Does a wingers skill drop the moment they become an arsenal player ? or is there a particular reason why you think all arsenal wingers are “not skilled enough to play as inverted wingers”
Thirdly , you keep saying you want your wingers to be on their stronger foot and cross the ball on the run .That raises three questions in my mind.
1.What tactics would you assume arsenal would be playing to execute such ,because I’ve never seen a team do it with one striker upfront.
2.Which striker would they be crossing the ball to ? Apart from Mourane Chamack ,Emmanuel Adebayor and Oliveir Giroud , arsenal has not really had strikers with areal prowess . If we couldn’t do it with them , why do you suddenly think we can do it with Auba (who has neither the frame nor the desire for an aerial challenge) and Laca (who is quite short really ) surprisingly , of the 3 Pepe is actually the most effective in the air.
3.Why would arsenal pay 72 million for a player only to bring him to arsenal and throw away the biggest part of his skill set ? The goals .Name me any wide player who scores even 10 goals a season with his stronger foot outside him .
Fact of the matter Grandad is the kind of football you keep reffering to is old fashioned and no one wins trophies with it .
And before you reference Liverpool ,I’ll remind you that they cross with their fullbacks like every other attacking team .Not with their wingers like a championship team.
Insistance*
completely agree Jon! And you’d think Pepe would’ve figured this out after one game in this league that you simply MUST work harder! He played majority of last season on RW. That is his position. T he reason he is not doing well is because he’s not working hard enough. Doesn’t track back, too non-chalant in his play. Similar attributes a certain German midfield unfortunately possesses. I hope Pepe wakes up and turns things around ASAP because he can be amazing, but not if he thinks everything is just going to come to him without the effort. I’m looking at this City team right now and nobody is taking their spot in the team for granted EVER.
Boom Leicester
He’s got 2 assists. Not the start we hoped but I’m patient. He has shown glimpses of brilliance, just needs some confidence. Especially when he didn’t even play much in August.
OT: Spurs just lost at Leicester….I think their away record has been very poor for some time now…but no one talks about it
Emery under pressure , whilst Pochettino is a great manager – apparently …. are you sure !!!
They’ve lost 2 matches this season, draw one with a better defense, they are without a win in their last 9 away matches in the premier league but no one is going to talk about that. Like have said and will keep saying, I will start judging Emery on the defense when the likes of Bellerin holding and tierny get back.
spurs were useless before pochettino. Not the same club.
Leicester city may finish in the top 5 this year. They’re better than us for sure.
True talk. Leicester has a much better and balanced team than arsenal. Our saving grace might just be the fact that they have an even dud manager in BR
Thank you, Leicester
Yes we should be patient with all our new recruits. Some players adapt quickly and some adapt slowly
I’m sure Pepe will show signs of improvement and get better and better as the season proceeds
I’m hoping Tierney will adapt quicker
Leicester better than us after playing how many games?
Wow. Some assessment.
Chill guys. Pepe will come good. Remember, form is temporary, class is permanent. He might even score against Aston Villa.
Off topic:
I read an analysis of “Last 43 months or Wenger vs First 43 months of Emery” and in every parameter we are under performing in Emery’s charge, so all the hype about improvement under Emery has been proved wrong, so it is for Emery to improve or the club to take a call. This isn’t looking good.
I read the same article, the figures are terrible.
What erks me so much is the lack of style, it’s dull football.
Pepe has to step up and grab the bull by the horn otherwise he should be dropped. He has to do that very very soon at that. I’m tired of words and statements like “promising” “he will come good” “give him time” “he is coming into a new league and he needs time”. Wenger did that and went trophyless for close to a decade. Foot ball has changed since the time of Henry, Pires etc. These days we need instant success, hit the ground running immediately. Remember Sanogo, Walcott, etc, they never came good, they never adapted and yet we waisted so much time on them. When other clubs lifted trophies we waited for a few young talents to come good. We passed the Era of being too patient with players. Other clubs will pile up the trophies while you remain trophyless.
I agree completely with everything you’ve said but let’s give him some more time. I really, really hope he comes good for his sake and Arsenal’s
Thank you for the lecture Joe.I may be 72 and old fashioned but I played football at a semi professional level and scouted quite successfully when I stopped playing.The fact that inverted wingers are flavour of the month does not mean that everyone has to follow the herd.Not does it mean you need a giant striker to make it effective.In my view the most potent front three in the PL is made up of Sterling, Auguero and Sane who is unfortunately injured just now.Natural wingers who get to the byline are not obliged to cross the ball in the air for a big centre forward.AMN demonstrated by crossing low for Auba to score against Watford by hitting the byline on his natural side.I hope Pepe comes good on the right of on the left, but please Joe no more lectures at my age.
Hi Grandad.
You pre-date me by a mere 6 years.
I too have been involved in the game to a decent level, and try to lean on my experience whilst adapting to the modern game.
I have to confess to smiling when reading your last post above.
It must be the Victor Meldrew in us as ( I know, speak for myself), but ……………
I recently gave a view on here regarding ANM that was contrary to a post you had made.
Apparently myself and one or two others were deemed to know “ precious little about football”.
Must admit that irked me somewhat at the time.
But nothing personal, after all we’re all Gooners through and through ( I hope).
Here’ s to reading many more posts – and getting bloody annoyed at some of them !
Cheers AJ.