Pepe to the bench?: Page 8 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Pepe to the bench?

Sicario

Pepe did well but I can’t see Arteta dropping Saka for him, not yet anyway. Good headache to have though.

JazzG

Qwiss! wrote:
Because we can't be waiting till the last 20 minutes every week. We were extremely close to losing 2 points today. Needs to be in the starting mix at the very least. If ESR is fit it complicates things.

Who do you drop to fit him in? We are struggling ESR into team and he's our top scorer.

QuincyAbeyie

JazzG wrote:
Qwiss! wrote:
Because we can't be waiting till the last 20 minutes every week. We were extremely close to losing 2 points today. Needs to be in the starting mix at the very least. If ESR is fit it complicates things.

Who do you drop to fit him in? We are struggling ESR into team and he's our top scorer.

You don't need to play the same three every week, it'd for example be hard to pinpoint City's first choice XI. In most areas we don't have City-like options, but here we actually do.

Ricky1985

Pépé came on and won the game for us in our biggest game of the season so far, he absolutely has to start the next game. The only mitigation I would offer is that there is a while until the next game and maybe he could slack off in training or something, but I don't expect that will happen because he will sniff a chance to get back a starting role.

Doc

The fact that we only have one game a week doesn't help. Its weighting up giving the first team consistency vs keeping the fringe involved.. Much easier if we are in Europe.. Really liked his cameo though, gives us a different option. For me, ESR deserves to start more, but its a great headache to have.

JazzG

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
You don't need to play the same three every week, it'd for example be hard to pinpoint City's first choice XI. In most areas we don't have City-like options, but here we actually do.

Big difference is City have 2/3 games a week whereas we have one game a week until the end of the season. An argument to be made that Saka/Martinelli offer us the best balance in attack and defence out of our options.

It's a good problem to have really. We have Saka, Martinelli, Odegaard, ESR & Pepe all who can make the difference in the final third. Been a while since we had so such a good mix of options.

MistaT

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10551091/[b]Nicolas-Pepe-played-Arsenals-win-Wolves-24-HOURS-welcoming-second-child[/b].html

You know Arteta gets off to that kind of stuff.

May interrupt his ability to play/start next game though. Or not, considering he played last game :doh:

Ricky1985

'At 2-3am he texted me and said ''yes I want to come and help the team''.

'These things happen and it is not a coincidence, it is because the togetherness and the unity is in there.'

That's great from Nico. They're really all buying in. I also love that he grabbed the ball and said let's go win the ganme after scoring a superb goal, when he's struggled for a while. He's improved in many ways since he's been here.

Anzac

I think he'd be devastating in a front 2.

As for him starting ahead of Saka, the from the match comments v Wolves Saka had an off game which may be due to age. On form Pepe deserves to start even if only to rest Saka to ensure players are as fresh as possible.

Segway

Just love watching Pepe play.

Anzac

I'm a fan of his runs in open play on the counter and when more central. My favourite games being the FA Cup win - especially the 2nd half, and his performance v LFC when he became the first player to beat VVD with the ball at feet. In both instances he was making those runs from a more central position than even when playing as an inverted winger/forward.

Qwiss

JazzG wrote:
Qwiss! wrote:
Because we can't be waiting till the last 20 minutes every week. We were extremely close to losing 2 points today. Needs to be in the starting mix at the very least. If ESR is fit it complicates things.

Who do you drop to fit him in? We are struggling ESR into team and he's our top scorer.

Against teams below us I'd drop Xhaka and shuffle things around a bit.

goon

Go on then:

Partey

Ode - ESR

Saka - Marti - Pepe

Actually, I wonder why we don't try Pepe up top. Feels like he has all the necessary skills, at least in comparison to Laca.

QuincyAbeyie

:drool:

jones

That front six looks way too attacking at first but then you look at Guardiola's sides and think it could be possible.

Let's hope we can sustain the level of performance from last week for a while first, but that team would be fun to watch

Burnwinter

goon wrote:
Partey

Ode - ESR

Saka - Pépé - Martinelli

I think this is the one, Goon.

Not sure it'd be much more defensively risky than what we have now, provided the midfield kept their heads and kept their positioning right.

Arteta will not send out this line-up.

goon

It's not that far fetched, we've basically played it before. This was the team against Burnley in September:

Party

Ode - ESR

Pepe - Auba - Saka

So all you're doing is subbing in Gabi for Auba.

You're right, the way we set up means personnel doesn't significantly alter our defensive game, we don't really rely on a Kante type to sweep up and win everything. Funnily enough the bigger issue in attack, as with has so far struggled to effect the game from a deeper starting position.

Qwiss

I'd like to try it with Saka and ESR switched. I think they're both best on the wing but I think Saka could adapt better to midfield and ESR needs to be closer to goal.

QuincyAbeyie

I guess hypothetically it would be a lopsided midfield like

------Busquets
Xavi
----------------Iniesta

with ESR closer to the goal than Øde. Although I think ESR's best position is on the wing and Øde's is as a 10.
with

jones

ESR is a classic English #10, closer to Kaka than Iniesta, he makes things happen with his movement rather than passing. If one of the two had to drop deeper it'd be Saka

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