Didn't want him in the summer, just thought he didn't quite have it, he might come good, but so far he's not surprised me at all.
Nicolas Pépé
- Thread starter LazyRed-Ninja
- Start date
I like how relentless you’re on him, want to be proven right to score some brownie points. It’s so petty and that’s why I love it
Well, that and because he's an Arsenal player so I'm obviously willing him to fail anyway.Might still turn out good, who knows, but thus far he’s looked clueless. All the big clubs walked away from the asking price. Probably for a reason. Bayern scouts supposedly said that his dribbling technique means he’ll struggle when he doesn’t have enough space. So they decided not to sign him.
Looks slow and desperately needs a lot of space to operate in
I don't know what free ride you're talking about, all I see on my twitter feed and forums I visit is people talking about how bad he is.
I agree and good thing Auba seems to be thriving with the pressure. With Iwobi leaving it has put extra pressure on Pepe to settle in more quickly because we don't have much from out wide. Saka though in recent weeks has looked good.
The mainstream media and pundits.
The French Lingard.
Gervinho was twice the forehead...I mean player that Pepe is.
I laughed out loud at this one
He's not really a clown show. He's getting his shots off, but they're mistimed or off target. But we've seen that he's capable of getting it done. I wouldve been more worried if he didn't get into the positions he does. Judge him after 6 months.
How was Son in his first 6 months was he tearing it up?
Son was 22m, so less than a third of what Pepe cost. Even taking in to account market shifts since then it's obviously not a comparable transfer.
You expect a record signing to have an impact pretty quickly, not barely resemble a footballer.
Well, wasn't worse than Lingard so that's something I guess. The kid on the other side looked more dangerous.
Yes he was. He was the worst player on the pitch.
Lingard was tidy but ineffective. Pepe was a liability.
I agree. I thought he was the worst player on the pitch. Thankfully, for us. It is even worse when you compare him to 18 year old Sako who seems twice the player this dud is.
People automatically assume that signings = guaranteed progress, but it doesn't always work out like that. Problem you have when you pay a lot of money for a player is that the manager probably feels under pressure to play him regardless of his form, which ultimately becomes detrimental to the team. Jurgen Klopp paid £40 million for Fabinho last year but he never got a sniff of regular first team action until the season was well under way. The reason for this was because he hadn't shown in pre-season, or in training I imagine, that he was ready to compete in the Premier League cauldron. Maybe Emery might need to look at taking him out of the spotlight for a while in order to work on his game. It could be only then that the guy might show why Arsenal paid a lot of money for him.
He'd look at home in your lot then.
He would.
£70+ million was it? Ouch.
He’s so bad I’m surprised we didn’t sign him.
You have to laugh really, Arsenal finally spent big and he's turned into a big flop so far.
He's definitely better than this, but if it's a mental issue there isn't much you can do.
He's definitely better than this, but if it's a mental issue there isn't much you can do.
How many games you play to be considered a flop these days?
He is quite a unique player in that his dribbling technique seems to be good, especially his go-to la croque ta move, but his first touch and other technical skills seem poor.
It looks like nerves, as these areas seemed fine in France. Usually players with good dribbling skills(one of the hardest technical skills) have good overall technique in say ball control(which directly contributes to dribbling), short passing and sometimes shooting. For him he only seems to have the dribbling.
Jurys still out on his potential I guess.
It looks like nerves, as these areas seemed fine in France. Usually players with good dribbling skills(one of the hardest technical skills) have good overall technique in say ball control(which directly contributes to dribbling), short passing and sometimes shooting. For him he only seems to have the dribbling.
Jurys still out on his potential I guess.
People are so quick to write players off these days. He is still young, this is his first season in the new league and he's only played a handful of games so far.
There’s always a danger buying players from vastly inferior leagues! Whenever I watched him for Lille he looked at his best when there were massive defensive gaps which he could exploit- he won’t get them in the Prem so often. I fear he’s another Memphis Depay ( for an even more eye-watering amount of cash)
My Arsenal mates where losing themselves when this signing happened. Funny thing is none of them knew who Pepe was before Arsenal bought him. Then the comparisons with Messi started, the only other player to get certain assists and goals other than Messi etc.
He has looked completely lost since playing here. Forget 20 goals, he barely looks capable of 1 goal. Was worried initially about Arsenal getting such a player but he’s been anything but great. I wonder how long the arsenal fans will give him.
He has looked completely lost since playing here. Forget 20 goals, he barely looks capable of 1 goal. Was worried initially about Arsenal getting such a player but he’s been anything but great. I wonder how long the arsenal fans will give him.
There is always danger buying players, period. I mean Alexis Sanchez is a good proof that "premier league proven" doesn't guarantee anything either.
No, people don't think it guarantees success, but they expect an immediate return when a club spunks the majority of it's transfer budget on a single player, making them in the process one of the most expensive in the world. When that player comes in looking like he still hasn't learned the fundamentals of football, then criticism will be forthcoming, and more importantly, that criticism will be justified.
The fee was clearly OTT but it made sense considering he is an attacker. Lille had to cash in because they knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and Arsenal were just too interested to refuse.
Should have stumped up for Zaha tbf.
Yes, he would be a "safer" bet I guess even if there are guarantees
I think he's a big talent, his close control, trickery and technique are all up there. HE released a statement saying he knows he hasn't started well and he's working hard to improve. He's a player low on confidence and you can tell this when he gets the ball. Because of this Aubameyang gave him the penalty last week. The club said he needed to bulk up before he started a month or so ago. He is quite a slight player and he can get pushed off the ball, so there's room for improvement. In our away games everyone was dropping deep and it's not a good environment to judge a forward. And realistically he maybe more of an inside forward than a winger. An inside forward Emery has instructed to cross on his left foot from the right wing. Emery's negative tactics do none of our forwards any favours. At the miniute they playing balls to his feet, where as if they played a ball for him to run onto he'd be in a far stronger offensive position.
People put allot of stock in the fee and are quick to label a signing a flop but Pepe wasn't bought for one season. I'm quite confident he'll become a player rivals will envy rather than mock in time.
People put allot of stock in the fee and are quick to label a signing a flop but Pepe wasn't bought for one season. I'm quite confident he'll become a player rivals will envy rather than mock in time.
"He's absolute bobbins Robbie!"
I’m well aware, Cheech. But thanks for the update.
The great thing about this transfer is that it's fecked up the next few transfer windows for Arse too with it being paid in instalments
I don't doubt that he'll find his form eventually but it's just funny that it's taking so long. For that fee you hope a player has immediate impact but he's shown absolutely nothing of note so far.
"Worse than Theo Walcott".
If he's still crap next season then he should be written off. Too early yet.
He’s got some ballerskillz but if you look at his actually output tonight it was zero. No real chances created, crap set pieces, crap crosses and a big chance missed.
Cautious to write him off yet though because he has those high skill moments.
Cautious to write him off yet though because he has those high skill moments.