Pepe vs Vermaelen

You guys act like Verm is shit at defending

He's not a shit defender at all Lex. Pepe is just an athletic freak and a very good defender while playing in a league where you have to play with your hands tied behind your back. Comparatively, Pepe is a better defender. He can often dominate his area defensively against La Liga attacks, who are much more sophisticated than EPL attacks.

Le Samourai wrote:I disagree with reading the play Crim.He relies on Ramos alot for that.

What? Pepe can't read the game?

Ramos likes to go forward with the ball, loves to try and steal the ball aswell, he must have the most steals on our team by some distance. But Pepe is always there to back him up. So when Ramos makes a mistake Pepe is instantly there to understand that Ramos needs to be covered and that Alonso will drop deeper given him the time to cover Ramos. When Ramos pushes forward, Pepe is there to organise the backline and make sure the offside trap is in-effect with fullbacks. When the fullbacks push-up and are exposed, Pepe is always there to cover the flanks when the opponent trys to exploit it.

Pepe reads the game brilliantly. One of the top 10 CBs in the game right now. Ramos relies on Pepe just as much as Pepe relies on Ramos.

Pepe is a great athlete, probably one of the best. But Vermaelen is a better defender.

RealGunner wrote:Pepe is a great athlete, probably one of the best. But Vermaelen is a better defender.

Boooooo!!!

Koscielny is better than both anyways

RealGunner wrote:Koscielny is better than both anyways

we dont know that.

Tomasso wrote:Pepe is a top center-back, disciplinary issues aside.

Vermaelan is an average center-back.

Is that a joke ?

He's some wannabe troll from Yahoo, RG, what do you expect

Jordi Ramos>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What a fraud. Compared to pepe? ffs, guys

Vermaelen is better in my opinion. Heres why.

-Neither has the best positioning, so this is even.
-Pepe is the better athlete. Stronger and faster specifically.
-Vermaelen is the better tackler and reader of the game. Pepe is also a hothead who kets his temper get the better of him. Vermaelen has some aggression, but he obky uses it in good ways.
-Vermaelen is better in the air and on the ball.

Alright fellas, can we all at least admit that Merts is better than both??

His too bulky and slow, Mertesacker is top 20 for me.

I hate Pepe but Vermaelen isnt even in Pepe's league tbh when it comes to defending..Average defender in my opinion.

I prefer Pepe. Psychotic, but also stronger and more reliable. Pepe is capable of dominating an opponent for the whole 90 mins and works well in a defensive unit. Honestly, I think Vermaalen gets hyped purely because he plays for Arsenal. Back in the day, you had Sol Campbell, Kolo Touré, William Gallas - they were real top CBs. I wouldn't call Verm average though, he's a good player, but too inconsistent and indecisive for me.

Forza Rossoneri wrote:Pepe is capable of dominating an opponent for the whole 90 mins

He sure can

vermallen who? messi has ripped him a new one time and time again,

whilst pepe has had messi's number , and ONLY defender who has been able to do so in past 2 yrs

comparison not even valid, pepe is on a whole differentleague

No CL for him next year, Im afraid.

Really lex? So should we bring the header valencia somehow scored vs vermalen?

Fact is every player has their mistakes. Pepe is 100x better then vermalen. Deal with it.

Forza Rossoneri wrote:I prefer Pepe. Psychotic, but also stronger and more reliable. Pepe is capable of dominating an opponent for the whole 90 mins and works well in a defensive unit. Honestly, I think Vermaalen gets hyped purely because he plays for Arsenal. Back in the day, you had Sol Campbell, Kolo Touré, William Gallas - they were real top CBs. I wouldn't call Verm average though, he's a good player, but too inconsistent and indecisive for me.

. And Vermaelen is not indecisive - he just goes gung-ho and runs forward at inopportune times these days. He makes his mind up, so I wouldn't say 'indecisive' because he's pretty no-nonsense once he decided to do something, but he's making some bad decisions.

Real Kandahar wrote:vermallen who? messi has ripped him a new one time and time again,

whilst pepe has had messi's number , and ONLY defender who has been able to do so in past 2 yrs

comparison not even valid, pepe is on a whole differentleague

Vermaelen has only ever played Barcelona two times my friend, both in 2010 (he was injured in the 2011 fixtures). One of the games was a 2-2 draw in which his defensive partner was a midfielder (Song) because Gallas got injured early, and the other was a 4-1 loss when Vermaelen was partnered in defence by Mikael Silvestre, one of the worst Arsenal defenders ever

Honestly, right now Arsenal's first and last line of defence in many games is our back line because our midfield is not dominating teams like before and we have no physical presence anywhere but our defence, so many little mistakes are resulting goals. Even if Arsenal had Pepe they would still be conceding goals. Yes Vermaelen has not been great this year, but this isn't the right time to bring this argument up because of the circumstances. I agree that Pepe is probably better for the record.

Real Kandahar wrote:vermallen who? messi has ripped him a new one time and time again,

whilst pepe has had messi's number , and ONLY defender who has been able to do so in past 2 yrs

comparison not even valid, pepe is on a whole differentleague

Koscielny, Cata Díaz, Fazio, Miguel Flano, Nesta.

Real Kandahar wrote:vermallen who? messi has ripped him a new one time and time again,

whilst pepe has had messi's number , and ONLY defender who has been able to do so in past 2 yrs

comparison not even valid, pepe is on a whole differentleague

You honestly don't watch football. Vermaelen has only played against Barca in 2010 in which he played the 2-2 tie. First fact wrong
Pepe isn't the only one and half the time he doesn't stop Messi. At the top of my head Koscienly, Nesta, Miguel Flano have all stopped Messi. Pepe doesn't always stop Messi and when he does he is usually always committing a foul to stop him. Second fact wrong.

pepe is better if he manages to keep his temper , anyways i cant pronounce Vermaelen so i ended up calling him watermelon