Palace Player ratings and reaction

[Niall_Quinn]

Pepe is out in the cold because he's not a robot. I don't watch this bollocks version of Arsenal any more, especially now they play in pink shirts. Instead I watch older matches where entertainment was on offer. A player like Theo Walcott, frustrating as he was, wouldn't get near Arteta's team because he was way, way too positive in his play. The job of the wide men in the current system is to provide outlets for the excruciating lateral passing game that bores everyone to death, including the opposition. Pepe likes to move the ball upfield towards the opponent's goal and then move himself forwards, this denying the central midfield the coveted lateral or backwards pass. That's a big no-no. Might have been why Ozil and Auba got pissed being here too, though that's just a hunch. The play is so horribly negative that 5 minutes of actual football in a game now goes down as a decent performance. Jesus will get pissed with it too and in 2-3 years he'll be off for half what he's worth. Happens all the time and no sign of it changing. The speed Wenger's teams used to get the ball upfield was a joy to behold. The crap on display now is quite the insult by comparison.

[Chippy]

Pepe is out in the cold because he's not a robot. I don't watch this bollocks version of Arsenal any more, especially now they play in pink shirts. Instead I watch older matches where entertainment was on offer. A player like Theo Walcott, frustrating as he was, wouldn't get near Arteta's team because he was way, way too positive in his play. The job of the wide men in the current system is to provide outlets for the excruciating lateral passing game that bores everyone to death, including the opposition. Pepe likes to move the ball upfield towards the opponent's goal and then move himself forwards, this denying the central midfield the coveted lateral or backwards pass. That's a big no-no. Might have been why Ozil and Auba got pissed being here too, though that's just a hunch. The play is so horribly negative that 5 minutes of actual football in a game now goes down as a decent performance. Jesus will get pissed with it too and in 2-3 years he'll be off for half what he's worth. Happens all the time and no sign of it changing. The speed Wenger's teams used to get the ball upfield was a joy to behold. The crap on display now is quite the insult by comparison.

Welcome back Quinny. I have missed you

[HCZ_Reborn]

Just put Pepe out of his misery ffs! He could still be a good option for someone, in the right set up, but he's obviously not a match for what Arteta wants and Arteta isn't going anywhere, so I really don't see the point in prolonging this - it isn't helpful to anyone at this point. Pepe needs to salvage his career going into his peak years and we can't have £140k/wk sat on the bench, taking up a squad place and not contributing.

You speak as if there are clubs queuing up to sign him.

Like with Torreira, when we do eventually get rid of him we are going to be making a massive loss on him.

And even before that Neurodiverse lego haired Wally became our coach, Pepe looked a very hit and miss player. He can be brilliant, but just as often he can have the first touch of Sidney Cook and won’t even show for the ball.

[The Wengerbabies]

I don't watch this bollocks version of Arsenal any more, especially now they play in pink shirts. Instead I watch older matches where entertainment was on offer.

I'm with you on this. I've really not been into it at all for the last few years, I barely even know any of the players tbh.

I thought I'd give it a go and try and get back into it this season but I put on the game see that knee bullshit is still going on and now we have a fucking pink kit, I just turned it off.

[Xhaka Can’t]

I can’t be arsed wasting 90 minutes of my life watching not much happen, let alone the two hours either side of it with assholes talking shit about either previewing nothing much happening or reviewing how nothing much happened. And that is before you get to the biased opinions expressed whilst analysing a slow game in ultra slow motion to accuse an Arsenal player of deliberate heinous cheating that fooled the ref while showing the same boring type of event to have a circle jerk over a Tottenham player doing the exact same thing.

I’ll watch the odd game if I’ve fuckall else to do. And only then, I restrict that to Arsenal games. I’ll maybe watch Canada at the WC, but that’s it and it’ll only be 3 games.

[I am invisible]

You speak as if there are clubs queuing up to sign him.

Like with Torreira, when we do eventually get rid of him we are going to be making a massive loss on him.

And even before that Neurodiverse lego haired Wally became our coach, Pepe looked a very hit and miss player. He can be brilliant, but just as often he can have the first touch of Sidney Cook and won’t even show for the ball.

There’ll be plenty of clubs out there for him, but every one of them will be expecting a massive knock-down deal for him now, most likely at the very last minute of the window. And they’ll get it - his high wages and the way his reputation has been trashed will make sure of it. Nothing to be done about it, though - there’s no big deal out there and no significant recouping of fees coming our way at this point - there’s only drawing a line under it and moving on.

Tbh, though, I wasn’t even thinking about the type of deal we might get. I just think this idea that there’s a way back for him here - that there might still be a place for him in this system - needs to stop. There isn’t. It’s not happening. Put it out of your heads and move on, people. He’s already on our bench behind three kids (maybe even four if you include Eddie) and the club have shown their intent to invest big in another, wide forward this summer. Whether you rate him or not, the whole Pepe debate just feels utterly redundant at this point.

[Mac76]

I can’t be arsed wasting 90 minutes of my life watching not much happen, let alone the two hours either side of it with assholes talking shit about either previewing nothing much happening or reviewing how nothing much happened. And that is before you get to the biased opinions expressed whilst analysing a slow game in ultra slow motion to accuse an Arsenal player of deliberate heinous cheating that fooled the ref while showing the same boring type of event to have a circle jerk over a Tottenham player doing the exact same thing.

I’ll watch the odd game if I’ve fuckall else to do. And only then, I restrict that to Arsenal games. I’ll maybe watch Canada at the WC, but that’s it and it’ll only be 3 games.

it's actually going to the games that i enjoy - i try to watch the away games online but given i can't afford to pay for them it's always a bit hit and miss, plus i've other things to do

i've got to say some of the performances i see at the ground are better than how people portray them on here, but maybe it's just the experience of being there and being caught up in it, or equally how the TV shows it

[I am invisible]

...i've got to say some of the performances i see at the ground are better than how people portray them on here, but maybe it's just the experience of being there and being caught up in it, or equally how the TV shows it

Yeah, that's been a very consistent theme on all of the Arsenal podcasts and fan channels for the last year or so - the general mood in the ground and down the pubs and in the surrounding area is really positive and nothing like you see online. Even online it's starting to feel like smaller and smaller pockets.

Also, for anyone who hasn't already, I highly recommend subscribing to a good selection of the better Arsenal podcasts and fan channels and getting away from Sky and the mainstream media - the level of debate and analysis is so much higher and more nuanced, and you don't realise how much of the negativity you feel comes from being saturated by the Sky soap opera and all the media narratives that are constructed around us.

[I am invisible]

This is the sad reality, man.

Arteta cost Arsenal champions League football last year when they couldn't create a chance yet Pepe couldn't get a sniff. A complete waste for everyone.

Tbh, I don't feel like either side is really in the wrong here.

I feel for Pepe, I really do - he's not a bad player, and I still think he'd be a great option for a fast, counter-attacking side (someone like a Wolves or even a Spurs), but his career has been royally fucked by dodgy agents and Directors of Football, selling him on a move that was never right for him. And now he's stuck in a team that don't play how he likes to play and saddled with a massive price tag and wages that make him almost unsellable. It's a terrible waste of what could have been a really good career.

But by the same token I don't blame Arteta on this one either. Being a manager is a tough gig, with people waiting to stick the knife in at every slip, and at the very least I think every manager deserves the right to succeed or fail on their own terms. Pepe isn't a player he ever wanted or asked for - Emery didn't even want him ffs! - and he clearly isn't a fit for what he's trying to do. He might not have given Pepe as many chances as some would like, but he has been given a lot of chances - more than enough for Arteta to know whether he's right for the role he wants or not. We as fans might not know exactly what it is that he's looking for in that role, but you have to trust that Arteta does and that he's seen more than enough of Pepe now to make a call on it. He's had to make do with the broken bits of other people's squads for 2 and half years now, and going into his 3rd full season I think he's well within his rights to expect to have the players he wants / needs to make his ideas work.

[Xhaka Can’t]

it's actually going to the games that i enjoy - i try to watch the away games online but given i can't afford to pay for them it's always a bit hit and miss, plus i've other things to do

i've got to say some of the performances i see at the ground are better than how people portray them on here, but maybe it's just the experience of being there and being caught up in it, or equally how the TV shows it

The thing I miss, and I do miss it a lot is, meeting up with friends at the Pins. Wondering if there was still time for that one last pint (there always was), before heading off to the ground.

What is telling, as I write this, the picture in my head is of walking to Highbury. Even now, after all these years, that place is ingrained in my consciousness and my heart.

We lost our soul in 2006.