Nicolas Pépé

[jayramfootball]

It's too late to sell this dud now and get our investment back.
£20m tops now.

[swipe right]

Never forget Wenger left us with Auba, Laca, Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Xhaka.
Don Emery left us with Pepe, Sokratis, Guendozi, Torreira.
Class matters.

[Phil71]

Give him one more season and if it doesn't work out get rid of him at a loss.

If we're going to be successful we can't afford to have duds hanging around.

This is the difference between us and the big spenders. They can afford to take a hit if an expensive player doesn't work out - ship him out and get another. We can't.

[Ach]

Never forget Wenger left us with Auba, Laca, Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Xhaka.
Don Emery left us with Pepe, Sokratis, Guendozi, Torreira.
Class matters.

Pretty much every post of yours is pining for Wenger. Sad and pathetic comes to mind. There's a reason why no other club went near him after 10 horror years here. But but if he left us he would have his pick of clubs so we were told by yourself and others. How'd that work out?

Time to grow up son and get behind the club you claim to support regardless of who's in charge and stop pining for horror years to be back under a clueless manager.

Wenger left us battling Burnley for 6th miles behind top 4. Emery left us as European finalists and a point off top 4

[Ach]

As for Pepe, least of our problems. He'll come good. Seen enough to think that. Remember we could've had zaha and we'd be majorly f***ked then

[theHotHead]

Never forget Wenger left us with Auba, Laca, Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Xhaka.
Don Emery left us with Pepe, Sokratis, Guendozi, Torreira.
Class matters.

Pretty much every post of yours is pining for Wenger. Sad and pathetic comes to mind. There's a reason why no other club went near him after 10 horror years here. But but if he left us he would have his luck of clubs so we were told by yourself and others. How'd that work out?

Time to grow up son and get behind the club you claim to support regardless of who's in charge and stop pining dornhoorror years to be back under a clueless manager.

Wenger left us battling Burnley for 6th miles behind top 4. Emery left us as European finalists and a point off top 4

I love you Swipe Right, but Ach is right !! Edit - but not about the Emery bit!

[theHotHead]

Give him one more season and if it doesn't work out get rid of him at a loss.

If we're going to be successful we can't afford to have duds hanging around.

This is the difference between us and the big spenders. They can afford to take a hit if an expensive player doesn't work out - ship him out and get another. We can't.

Perhaps I am being picky, but if as you say give him another season and get rid if it doesn't work out, what do we do to replace him ? Do we replace with top end/top dollar or go for mediocre ? If it is the former, that makes us the same as the big spenders. If it is the latter then why get rid of him ? May as well keep him, no point taking a loss only to have to buy a mediocre player anyway.

[swipe right]

Never forget Wenger left us with Auba, Laca, Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Xhaka.
Don Emery left us with Pepe, Sokratis, Guendozi, Torreira.
Class matters.

Pretty much every post of yours is pining for Wenger. Sad and pathetic comes to mind. There's a reason why no other club went near him after 10 horror years here. But but if he left us he would have his pick of clubs so we were told by yourself and others. How'd that work out?

Time to grow up son and get behind the club you claim to support regardless of who's in charge and stop pining for horror years to be back under a clueless manager.

Wenger left us battling Burnley for 6th miles behind top 4. Emery left us as European finalists and a point off top 4

Emery left us in 9th place.
He was fired in 18 months cause he was shit.
He was a bitch who complained that management couldn’t cover his lame ass with the fans and players.
You’re having a laugh comparing him to Wenger.

[theHotHead]

Emery was worse than Wenger, an even bigger fucktard that made us even worse. Good riddance. He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

[Phil71]

Give him one more season and if it doesn't work out get rid of him at a loss.

If we're going to be successful we can't afford to have duds hanging around.

This is the difference between us and the big spenders. They can afford to take a hit if an expensive player doesn't work out - ship him out and get another. We can't.

Perhaps I am being picky, but if as you say give him another season and get rid if it doesn't work out, what do we do to replace him ? Do we replace with top end/top dollar or go for mediocre ? If it is the former, that makes us the same as the big spenders. If it is the latter then why get rid of him ? May as well keep him, no point taking a loss only to have to buy a mediocre player anyway.

Ideally with top end / top dollar, but if that can't be done go for a player with a lower price and profile who would have potential. Someone like Martinelli for instance.

If he doesn't come good after two years he's not going to. And in those circumstances there'd be no reason to keep him. We had enough of that under Wenger. Hanging on to players forever waiting for them to come good.

[Angelito]

This was always going to be an issue when we signed him. A lot of us did mention that he's a good player but he is not worth the £70m we paid for him.

That's not his fault.

The ability is there. Pepe won't turn out to be the next Robben, but he's a damn good player who isn't world class.

He's still our second most productive player this season after Aubameyang with 6 goals and 8 assists.

This is also his first season in England and he joined at the worst possible time a marquee player could, especially under a statoball coach like Unai Emery.

We have to judge him when things normalize next season. That, however, doesn't mean he will turn into a world beater, or would be our next great player. I hope he does. I don't think he will.

The problem with some Gooners is the overtly high expectations they have against the resources we do. Wenger suffered from this through much of last decade. We simply don't have the resources to sign world beaters. The three world class players we did sign were freaky events—two players we signed due to circumstances and the star power of Wenger. Auba was down to Mislintat—the best scout in the game, and his professional relationship with Auba. Auba also explicitly stated that he signed to play under Wenger.

I believe Pepe is already producing the goods despite being part of a dysfunctional club at its worst during the PL era.

Since Raul joined Arsenal, we've signed three good, or potentially great players: Auba, Torreira, and Martinelli.

Apart from Auba, we don't have a world class player today. We can't blame Pepe for the cluttered state of affairs at Arsenal.

I'm surprised, perhaps not, that we seem to be unable to give players the time needed to bed in. Even next season, I don't expect Pepe to tear the league apart but even watching him now, it's impossible to refute the fact that he has the technique, mentality, and class to excel here albeit not at the level of Alexis or Ozil.

Our fundamental issues start at boardroom level. On the pitch, our issue was Unai Emery during the time he was here. At a more micro level, our issue since Cazorla's unfortunate injuries have been a lack of a classy central midfield player.

Even today, we don't have a good, dependable CM. There's only so much you can do. While Messi and Ronaldo were surrounded by elite-tier midfielders, we have someone like Xhaka supporting our attackers. We have a raw player like 'Douzi. We have a DM who was forced to play as an AM under Emery (Torreira).

As long as we don't fix our midfield issues, we won't achieve much. You can't field Xhaka and Torreira, or 'Douzi, even Ramsey, and except to challenge sides with stellar midfield units.

That's just one micro issue at Arsenal. The major issue is at board level.

[ag6789]

Largely agree with Angelito. It is mind boggling how you can let go two attacking midfielders( Ramsey and Mikhi) and not replace them knowing very well we were already light in the midfield department. That greasy muddle headed charlatan did so much damage earlier in the season, that there's not much we can do at this stage,
Just hope for the best that the strikers capitalizes on the chances the poor midfield can create for them and whatever comes from the defense and between themselves.
Come summer, progress with a plan to undo the damage; get some good buys.

[alexafc12]

We just have a terrible terrible habit of selling players undervalue and buying the wrong players at the wrong time for too much money.

[theHotHead]

We just have a terrible terrible habit of selling players undervalue and buying the wrong players at the wrong time for too much money.

The spectre of Wenger lives on ........

[swipe right]

Look the reality is you have to restructure the midfield and parts of the attack to help Pepe succeed. He does not have the pace and power to drive the ball forward, which means you have to release the ball very quickly from midfield allowing him to cut inside and fire a shot off. We don’t have those types of midfielder at the moment. The ideal CM for Pepe would have been Cazorla or even Arteta. He also can’t can’t play wide as he is so predominantly left footed. That means his range is between the two CBs of the opposing team. It’s fine if you have a striker like Giroud in top who can hold off the defense and create space for him but it wouldn’t work with Auba or Laca as CF. Whoever made the decision to buy him did not understand the players around him.