Seems talented but a bit lazy. That's the impression i got after watching him play for 20 minutes. Could be wrong though.
Nicolas Pépé
- Thread starter LazyRed-Ninja
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Pretty much this.
I haven't noticed Ndombele pulling up any trees, yet he seems to escape criticism.
Double standards and all that....
Haven't seen him since those free kicks. When is he back from injury?
He's fit, just a 72m bench warmer/ "impact" sub currently.
Ndombele has struggled badly with fitness, he's barely been able to play.
Been injured a lot probably why he has escaped criticism. Hasnt really had an extended run of games, dunno if Spurs are rushing him back and he is just getting injured again or just unlucky.
Didn't watch the full match but I know he came on for Willock in second half and looked poor again from what I saw.
How dare you judge a player who's only played 1000 minutes for his new club.
Not spending the cash on a couple of quality defenders instead of Pepe was outrageously incompetent! Arsenals attack has never been the issue!
A £72M attacking player yet to score a goal from open play 4 months into the season. Only Arsenal....
Yep this seasons Keita
Their transfer window has been a total disaster so far.
What stands out to me the most is that he's really pressing to try to score - he needs to settle down and focus on doing his job over getting himself on the scoresheet. That said, the way Arsenal have handled him this season in terms of integrating him into the team is singularly atrocious.
The stats back this up as well - he's shooting from terrible positions trying to get his first goal:
The stats back this up as well - he's shooting from terrible positions trying to get his first goal:
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We've scored 3 goals from open play in our last 8 league games.
He'll do better when we figure out how to transition quickly from defence to attack and get him running at players and onto through balls. Most of the Brighton game he had three defenders around him.
Looks like a dodge bullet, candidate to flop of the season. 70 million down the drain.
He was actually MOTM tonight. Brilliant goal and a very good assist, and was hacked down all game. Still has to prove his huge price tag but it's too early to dismiss him as a flop. He will certainly get more games under Ljungberg.
So what's the verdict on him...
First season syndrome or just plain average?
First season syndrome or just plain average?
That was a horrible performance. It has not worked out sadly for arsenal and pepe. Time to move on.
He'll become as meme infamous as his namesake.
Holy shit he's been bad. 
He'll probably become better in his 2nd season but he's not the top player Arsenal expected him to be.
He'll probably become better in his 2nd season but he's not the top player Arsenal expected him to be.Pepe and Xhaka cost over 100m
Let that sink in
Let that sink in
Benched.
There was a few posters on here that were adamant United missed out on a very good player.
He’s been getting benched quite a lot recently.
Isn’t that impossible to say just yet...Bernardo Silva took 6 months to even get regular starts? Fabinho prob around the same.
Fred took a whole season to adapt too. I don’t know why people are so quick to write players off.
I'm just saying that based on what we've seen this season. No idea if he will improve or not. I do think people are too quick to jump on the lets sign this or that player without much thought.
Was better for us last night, was not fully fit either, really happy for him but he needs to push on, best part of last night was he seemed to simplify his game a little
He was ok but looked like he just did not want to feck up and played it safe/slow a lot of the time. Hopefully he can start building up his confidence and fitness levels during this month.
Thought he was his usual shite self bar thr goal.
Yeah, but you don't actually rate anyone. Go into any player thread and I guarantee you'll have posted your usual "he's shite" low effort post.
I think he’ll be decent for us. I imagine at that age, that transfer fee and expectations that come with it, irrespective of being a pro brings with it a certain degree of psychological work to get the player to deliver on the potential.
It’d be great to purchase the finished article and have him hit the ground running, but it doesn’t always happen that way.
It’d be great to purchase the finished article and have him hit the ground running, but it doesn’t always happen that way.
he'd be a really good player
if he got to play against Luke Shaw each week
if he got to play against Luke Shaw each week
He is a decent player just not a 72m player. He was good yesterday but then one could also see he lacked confidence and looked rusty. It could be to do with his confidence but I hate wingers stopping and trying to accelerate. If that is his style then he may not be that successful.
Good player, will only get better as he acclimatizes. Good thing its taking him some time to find his feet, if he had hit the ground running and turned a couple of matches around for us, Emery might still be here stinking the place up.
ATM, have to say that I think we overpaid, however I think he can turn it around. Might have a bit of an attitude issue (eg some reports suggest he doesn't work hard enough in training), but he walked into a very dysfunctional team in a new league, so it's hard to really judge him fully in some ways. A quick Google search of his stats so far says that in 22 appearances in the league and Europe, he's scored 5 goals and has 2 assists. Not great but not that bad considering Arsenal have been horrible this season. Hopefully Arteta can figure out how to motivate him and properly use him in the squad, as he has the tools to be a success here. He does seem to be improving though, which is promising.
I'll wait until next year to deliver the final verdict. But if I had to guess I think we bought a 30-40m wide forward for 70m but the same summer happened to buy another wide forward for 6m (Martinelli) that will eventually be worth at least 70m.
He'll get better. He's carrying an injury, playing in a new league, in a new team and just come from playing under a very underwhelming manager. It's a coincidence that he's looked a bit better since he's been moved from playing very wide in a defensive side to playing as an inside forward between the lines in a pressing team.