Pepe

I will play Devil's advocate. Pepe is severely misused. And much of it is not his fault. He was brought in for a manager who did not want him. That manager got fired. he has had 2 more managers and it is clear Arteta does not fancy him and even treats him poorly compared to others (see Pepe's red card vs Leeds vs Xhaka's against Burnley - even with the opposite responses fromt he players).

Pepe is more creative on the left but more a goal scoring threat on the right. He also needs help. Look at how we play...tierney overlaps and that brings out the best in any Left forwarD Our RBs dont overlap..they become inverted and that crowds out Pepe's space. And with no overlapping FB like yesterday, he gets crowded out by 2-3 players and has no where to go but backwards.

Yet he remains our most consistent goal threat outside Auba and Laca. And that is with the poor management he is experiencing. I know everyone loves Saka and rightly so, but if I had to choose based on who is more likely to score or assist, I'd pick Pepe every time.

Got a lot of the assets needed to be a huge threat for Arsenal. Have questioned if hes being coached well enough. As if you say the average fan can see it, whys it not been worked on? Maybe hes not got the character or hunger? which comes down to why would you pay 72m then without doing your homework? Either way its more down to Arsenal imo be it scouting or coaching.

Pepe's 'people' offered him too Napoli but we turned em down as 2 much 'fees' n stuff.
Happy we went 4 Osimhen instead.

comment by MaineGunner (U10130)
posted 6 hours, 7 minutes ago
I will play Devil's advocate. Pepe is severely misused. And much of it is not his fault. He was brought in for a manager who did not want him. That manager got fired. he has had 2 more managers and it is clear Arteta does not fancy him and even treats him poorly compared to others (see Pepe's red card vs Leeds vs Xhaka's against Burnley - even with the opposite responses fromt he players).

Pepe is more creative on the left but more a goal scoring threat on the right. He also needs help. Look at how we play...tierney overlaps and that brings out the best in any Left forwarD Our RBs dont overlap..they become inverted and that crowds out Pepe's space. And with no overlapping FB like yesterday, he gets crowded out by 2-3 players and has no where to go but backwards.

Yet he remains our most consistent goal threat outside Auba and Laca. And that is with the poor management he is experiencing. I know everyone loves Saka and rightly so, but if I had to choose based on who is more likely to score or assist, I'd pick Pepe every time.
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Finally someone with a sensible verdict on the Pepe situation.

He's far from perfect and is never worth 72m but he is our most dangerous player behind our two strikers. Its actually laughable how much people trash talk him when he's involved in more goals and assists while Saka and ESR gets brown nosed even when they are invisible.

Pepe does what he is told to do and made to practice in training every day. He's not alone in being a player who naturally takes opponents on who has become a backpass merchant. Willian is the most notable, but after his being dropped last season Martinelli when he came back was the same.

Arteta is the problem.

comment by Invisible Auba (U18355)
posted 15 hours, 45 minutes ago
comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 1 hour, 35 minutes ago
His stats are shocking. Son managed more goals and assists last season than Pepe's managed in his PL career.
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His stats aren’t bad at all. Son is obviously much better than him so it’s a pointless comparison. Pepe is awful.
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He cost 3 times what Son did so of course its a relevant comparison.

Any player worth £72m should be expected to deliver top end stats, so you compare him with similar players to assess who he good he is.

He's the 7th most expensive buy in PL history!

Unpopular opinion time: SO FAR, Partey has been a bigger waste of money than Pepe....

Anyway, Pepe is gash, but he looks a bit better on the left because being so absolutely criminally one footed and one dimensional is less of a problem there. It's a lot easier to beat a player on the outside and get a cross in than it is to cut back inside and shoot/pass when every defender in the country knows that's exactly what you will try to do EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU GET THE BALL.

Also, we all know there was some dodgy dealing going on with his signing. Raul Sanllehi should be facing a criminal investigation for the sh*t he pulled at Arsenal.

Obviously he’s been a disappointment, but think we can get better out of him, also we don’t have much choice trying to make it work considering he’s one of the few players who can actually score. Think we need to get him more central area, and involved in the box much more, with more emphasis on making runs into the box. He’s often way too wide and just ends up getting crowded out. When he’s actually in the box or on the edge of it, he cause opponents much more problems. Out wide he’s doubled up on all the time. Obviously his awful touch and decision making is a factor why he’s useless out wide as well. But his flicks and tricks would be much more effective in the box where he could potentially draw a foul, create bit of space for a simple pass or get a shot off. He does most of this by the touch line by the corner flag, where it is mostly completely pointless

I do agree that he is still more of a goal threat than the likes of Saka and ESR