The £ 200m front four won’t put Arsenal in the top four. Not this season and maybe never. They are the faces of a failed policy, tying up too much of the budget to one department of the team and losing the reputation for fiscal caution due to misguided short-termism. As Josh Kroenke admitted, they had wages for the Champions League and a budget for the Europa League. If they don’t win the FA Cup, they may not even have soccer in the Europa League.
Nicolas Pepe will be the last man in the expensive quartet. In 13 months, he could be the only survivor: Arsenal is concerned that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will go, can’t wait for Mesut Ozil to leave, and with Alexandre Lacazette now seeing Eddie Nketiahs deputy, they could welcome his departure. With Arsenal’s budget under attack from all sides, Pepe’s £ 72m fee means he will remain the record purchase for years to come.
Mikel Arteta’s reign may depend in part on how he does with Pepe, as he has no similar means, is forced to find the answer in using ideas and imagination to make up for the shortcomings in a mismatched squad with too many unpredictable numbers . For this reason, the encouragement the Ivorian offered at Bramall Lane went well beyond securing a semi-final for Arsenal. A goal and assist for Dani Ceballos’ winner helped, but the general conclusion was that he could be a force next season.
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“He has incredible potential,” said Arteta, who had admired Pepe from afar before taking command. “I really like him from the past.” Pepe’s pace is one of his most obvious features, but he made a slow start in London, scoring a single ligator under Unai Emery, the manager who signed him up but really wanted Wilfried Zaha.
But back to the days when Arsenal rarely needed the immediate impact of its imports, Arsene Wenger used to say that it took some six months to settle down. Robert Pires did and became footballer of the year in his second season. Thierry Henry started with eight games without a goal, and when such comparisons are automatically unfair, Arteta underlines the human element of a transfer.
“It is very important to understand the player and his feelings and how difficult it was for him to adapt to a new country and language that he cannot understand,” he said. He believes Pepe is emerging from its shell. “He is very willing, a nice boy who always smiles at everyone, a bit free, but that’s a good thing because you need these characters in your team.”
The tactical element forms another part of the equation. Arteta spent some time going through clips with players, albeit from a distance. He managed to get Pepe into half the room, the inner right channel; Perhaps the speed of a left foot could be used to get more Mohamed Salah-like runs behind the defense, but he can shoot from a distance. An inverted winger can be a more concise one. His manager demands that he also present himself as a defender.
“I think he now realizes what to do if we don’t have the ball,” he said. “He is always unpredictable when he has the ball. I am very excited to see what he can bring. I’m very happy about his defensive actions today, it’s incredible, and then he gives us the creativity, the flair that big teams need with the ball. “
One of the many mistakes in Arsenal’s thinking was that there was no system that would fit perfectly with any of her tent attackers. Project Restart was Project No Starts for Ozil, with no substitute appearances. A back injury, which may or may not have been suffered with an umbrella in the Southampton sun, was responsible for his absence in Sheffield. Even though Pepe is a completely different player, he was a beneficiary.
The attack takes a different form without No. 10. Arteta showed its own creativity. A manager influenced by Pep Guardiola, who in turn adored Marcelo Bielsa, used a 3-3-3-1 form that the Argentinian likes, but which is generally too brave for most others. His strategy of using two left-backs had mixed results: Kieran Tierney was excellent as a full-back, but Sead Kolasinac managed to cash in a catastrophic, arsenal-like manner by conceding Rob Clearing and thus David McGoldrick’s way. Even when David Luiz made an uneventful comeback, it was a reminder of the number of problems Arteta is facing.
However, the eventual winner with a combination of Nketiah and Pepe made progress in several ways. He could still be the great 72 million pound man.
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