57' Dritter Wechsel beim #FCA! ↩️ Pepi ↪️ NiederlechnerAuf geht's, Flo! #B04FCA pic.twitter.com/WZitNNSMKZ— FC Augsburg (@FCAugsburg) January 22, 2022
The chances are just a bit few and far between. He didn’t really screw up at all. He just isn’t the guy who is going to create his own chances.
probably. He was below average by Bundesliga striker standards. Even more below average by $18M striker standards. Hopefully he won’t get the BW6!
SELECT ALT ENDING: Pepi goes on national team duty, scores in a comfortable environment. Returns to Germany confident and ready to rip a Mulligan to the green... National team call-ups often suck, but they've been known to juice a players performance as well as put them on the outs with their club. But ultimately it will eventually be "can he help us" but a young new signing if they didn't plan on giving Pepi some adjustment time, they're dumb. If they really thought they were getting a "gonna bag Bund goals off the plane" player, they should shopped elsewhere.
Pepi shouldn't have been called up because his form is in the toilet. Allowing a player to settle in at a new club shouldn't be part of our consideration anymore. Our players are good enough now that there isn't a reason to worry about an American being dropped from his Euro club squad for having the audacity to play for the national team.
From the "puts in goals and assists" perspective, obviously it's a fallow period. But I don't think there's a ton to worry about (at least so far) if you zoom out a bit. Pepi got .1 xG in his first outing; .6 xG his second; and, per FotMob, .34 xG + xA in his 57 minute-outing today. Per 90 minutes that's .53 xG+xA -- an above-average pace for a Bundesliga striker. Pretty good for a young guy on a struggling team in a new league. For me the concerns are still exactly the same as before: doesn't get a ton of touches, and he presses a lot but doesn't necessarily get results from it. Overall I think it's a solid first few games considering the circumstances. The important thing is that no one in Augsburg panics.
This match was practically unwatchable. I only made through the first half then skipped to Richards vs Reyna-less BvB. Difficult to rate Pepi given Leverkusen’s dominance and Augsburg ‘s incompetence but It’s tough to feel optimistic about the overall situation.
He definitely needs to improve his hold-up play. He’s chasing the game and struggling to help the team because his touches aren’t coming off. He needs to take pressure off the team at times.
Was anyone expecting goals from this move? He's basically in a Sargent situation, and can only hope that the negativity from his situation won't transfer over to this thread. These kinda situations will hopefully be good for the career. If he's not going to be scoring goals, he can develop the other parts of his game while hopefully nicking a goal here or there... Much like Sargent, the key is to simply keep earning minutes at this point, which is the most important thing right now.
On teams like this you need to beat your xG not be at or below it. If he can do that and improve his game in the ways you mentioned he will move quick. Otherwise, we will see.
Disagree (apart from weather conditions consideration). Mr. Berhalter is taking a cooperative approach with clubs and his experience with Nat team is likely to improve his play for club. I was just watching the Milan v. Juve game yesterday and Ibrahimovich and Giroud are their cf's. They are old - can't lie to you - and will need replacement. Pepi seems to fit what they want in style of play. Pepi has some fantastic header goals and his movement all over the pitch and interplay make him ideal for Serie A imo. I suppose it is difficult to make a case to the FO when they have the scudetto in sight with less than half a season to play; on the other side it might behoove Pepi to stay in Germany to develop because they are pretty good at cultivating players in a humane way. The one downside to Augsburg is the question of how well their midfield can push the rock so Pepi gets reps in front of goal. That was one problem, the main problem among other problems, that Sargent had in Bremen. Pepi would not have that problem at Milan.
He has played less than two games' worth of time in Europe so far. He looked pretty good in the second outing. And not very good in the third one. If you mean he needs to prove that he is playing well before being called up, that's one thing. But you can't really make much a comment on his "form" being "in the toilet" after 171 minutes for a new team in a new league.
He hasn't played well for club or country since October. He put up one of the worst performances on the field for the US in the December friendly against Bosnia, and he hasn't shown anything yet at Augsburg to show that he has snapped out of his skid. I'm not saying he's shit or anything. Just that he's a teenager who saw a massive surge in minutes over the past 12 months, and it has caught up to him*. He isn't playing well, and he needs time off. Calling him up was a mistake. * - 563, all comps in 2020 versus 2,527 in 2021
this is not going to get easier anytime soon; with the exception of a game in Feb against Borussia Monchengladbach, Augsburg just started a 5-game stretch in which they play four of the current top 5.
I’m not seeing how this will turn out to be a good move. He had a good situation during a World Cup year. Now he’s in a tough situation with low potential for success. Pressure is going to build, sphincter is going to pucker up, and this will be Sargent all over again. And what was Augsburg thinking?
Yes, but...a couple years ago Pepi was a wide eyed kid from El Paso hoping to make it in Dallas. Now he's a wide eyed kid hoping to make it in Augsburg. You could argue the step up from whatever his level was in El Paso, then North Texas, to MLS was as big as MLS to Bundesliga. Glass half full says he fires them to safety. Huge ask, but so too was walking off the dirt fields of El Paso hoping to make something of himself for him and his family.
He joined the Dallas academy 6 years ago from an affiliate youth club. This post makes him sound like El Paso's Oliver Twist.
I'm not sure what all the rending of garments is about. He's putting up a solid xG+xA figure, and not doing so much in other aspects of the game. He's basically the exact same player, with the exact same levels of production, as he was in MLS. So if anything fans should be encouraged. The goals aren't going in yet but if he keeps up this pace they will.
On paper, this move did not make sense on several fronts. One reason is now Pepi goes away for 2 weeks while his relegation fighting club needs every practice to position himself for a win. And he won’t be around. Would love to be wrong but this kindof move would have made a lot more sense in summer, not now. Hopefully everything comes together and he gets integrated and goals- but this was so much pressure to heap on this young man’s shoulders. Hope he doesn’t tailspin.