Arsenal, for once, are enjoying a good transfer window. Although having left most of their business late, the club had been working behind the scenes with a clear sense of purpose. As if securing the signings of William Saliba and Dani Ceballos was not enough, Arsenal then went on and brought in Nicolas Pépé for a club-record fee of 80 million pounds. The signing came as a shock to most fans and neutrals alike as nobody had expected them to sign the Ligue 1 break-out star. In this tactical analysis, we’ll provide you with a comprehensive scout report on the 23-year-old Ivorian winger and what value he’ll add to the north-London club.
Brief introduction
To understand Pépé, we need to know a bit about Lille 2018/19.
Lille usually lined up in a 4-2-3-1. Theirs was not a possession-heavy brand of football. Instead, they focused more on finishing high-quality chances created mostly during counter-attacking situations. The team didn’t have a particularly rigid structure in-possession. The attacking quartet was given the license to drift around in the opposition’s half. Chances were created usually through dynamic superiority – combination play, fluid attacking structure, and often times through individual brilliance.
Pépé was a big part of this. He was the most influential attacking player for Lille and hence, often times the entire attacking mechanism was built around him and his movement. In the following analysis, well discuss what qualities those were exactly in greater depth.
Dribbling and ball-carrying
Nicolas Pépé is a left-footed player who starts out on the left wing for Lille. His area of operation is usually what you’d expect from a modern winger – the wide left flank and the left half-space. Pépé’s dribbling style is based on body feints and he’s mastered the zero-to-sixty acceleration. Often times in matches, he simply traps the ball at his feet and allows the press to come to him. Once that happens and he is shielding the ball, he explosively changes direction and exploits the space the defender just left behind.
Apart from that, he also relishes the job and excels at taking a defender on 1v1. A style reminiscent of Arjen Robben, he begins by showing the defender outside and threatening to beat him using his pace. However, when the defender reacts to cover that angle, he immediately cuts inside.
This is seen in the picture below. Notice how Pépé’s original position was out wide but he decides to cut inside. His movement is met by a counter-movement of his striker – who drops deeper to link up play. From there the two play a quick give-and-go and Pépé enters a good shooting position. It is indeed this quick movement started by Pépé that collapses opponent’s defensive structures and ensures that he’s able to enter dangerous zones – in this picture, he’s able to get off a shot. However, once he’s entering infield, a host of options open up for him besides shooting – playing a through-ball, playing a switch to the other side, or even reversing a ball back to his own full-back which breaks the grain of the press.
Although not tasked with build-up responsibilities, Pépé gets on the ball a lot. When Lille have the goal-kick, Pépé drops deep to collect the ball, usually from a simple vertical pass up the flank from his full-back. He still provides width. When progressing from the deeper areas, Pépé uses the by-line to quickly move up through the thirds. However, once he’s past his own half, he prefers to cut inside onto his stronger foot as discussed above. Indeed Pépé rarely if ever uses the by-line to dribble past his opponent – preferring the central areas from where he has much more options. This is also evident in how he hardly attempts any open-play crosses – 0.4 crosses per 90 to be precise. This suits his inverted-winger style and allows him to develop into a much greater over-all threat as it also brings into action his –
Shooting and off-the-ball runs
Pépé has near-elite level shooting stats despite playing in a team who don’t dominate possession. At the beginning of the 2018/19 season, he was taking more than 4 shots per 90 and having a total of 0.4 xG per 90. His shot volume has now slipped to 3.39 which is still in the 85th percentile in all of Europe. Part of this is due to the tactics of the team, which are geared towards getting the best out of his offensive capabilities. We can see this in the example below. Pépé carries the ball infield and his movement is immediately followed by his team-mate vacating the zone-14 area. These rotations create confusion for the opposition markers and also creates space centrally for Pépé.
