Following the arrival of Brendan Wiredu, Plymouth Argyle seemed to get carried away in the glorious sunshine of a recent Friday afternoon. Acting with the zest of Davina McCall outside the Big Brother house, Argyle got giddy and decided to give us another one. In fact, they were so keen to bring another player in, they jumped the gun and revealed the news early, hastily recalling an email before finally making the announcement official.
Bim Pepple is the man in question, or Aribusitamunoipirim Pepple to use his full name. We’ll stick with Bim for the remainder of his time here, shall we? Pepple officially joins from divisional rivals Luton Town, although he didn’t actually make a first team appearance for the Hatters. Last season, he had loan spells at both Southend United and Chesterfield Town, and one suspects it’s those spells that caught the eyes of Argyle’s hierarchy.
After the earlier signing of Owen Oseni, Pepple joins the ranks and immediately doubles the number of strikers Argyle have on their books. And much like Oseni, I think it’d be fair to say he’s another to arrive at Home Park with a point to prove. He hasn’t scored a League One goal yet in his career, so let’s delve into Pepple’s numbers to see if we can identify why Argyle made their move.
Shining at Southend
Pepple’s best spell last season came during the first half of the campaign at Southend. And that’s not really a surprise, given Southend played (and indeed do still play) at National League level. Like Oseni though, his numbers in the National League are encouraging, and I can understand why Argyle looked at those numbers and took a keen interest.
Strikers are judged by their goalscoring, and that’s naturally the first thing we’ll check. In his Southend spell Pepple played a total of 1,230 minutes across 19 appearances, scoring seven times. It levelled out at an average of 0.51 goals per 90 minutes which, somewhat pleasingly, is a better rate than any Argyle player managed last season.
| Player | Goals per 90 |
| Bim Pepple* | 0.51 |
| Andre Gray | 0.49 |
| Ibrahim Cissoko | 0.40 |
| Muhamed Tijani | 0.40 |
| Ryan Hardie | 0.40 |
| Mustapha Bundu | 0.39 |
As ever, context is key. Pepple scored his goals in a Southend side chasing promotion from the National League. They’d eventually only miss out in the play-off final in the fifth tier. Meanwhile, Argyle’s strikers were playing in a side doomed to relegation from the second tier. Frankly, it’d be extremely concerning if Pepple wasn’t coming out on top in this metric. Still, it’s reassuring that this isn’t the case, and Pepple has at least been delivering at some sort of professional level.
Want to see some of my favourite goals from his Southend spell? I’ve got you covered. How about this one in an Essex derby against Braintree, in what proved to be his final goal for the club? Pepple picked the ball up outside the box, showed some lovely footwork, and curled home from outside the area. I can’t say I hate the celebration against Southend’s local rivals either.
Against Solihull Moors earlier in the year, he scored an incredibly similar goal, only this time with his left foot.
And, whilst his goal later in the game wasn’t one of his prettiest, he showed his ability to score in a variety of ways by ensuring he was in the right place at the right time from a corner.
We can throw more stats into the mix to show how well Pepple did at Southend. He was often active, taking exactly three shots per 90 on average, and he would have topped Argyle’s ranks in that metric and indeed for shots on target. His shot accuracy, at 54%, was also very good. And Pepple complemented his goalscoring with a couple of assists too, demonstrating that he has a role to play creatively as well as in front of goal.
In plenty of areas, Pepple proved he was too good for National League level. Whether that means he’s good enough to play in League One is another matter entirely, but it’s no surprise that his Southend spell caught the eyes of those further up the pyramid.
Mixed signals from Chesterfield
Pepple’s loan spell at Southend was cut short in January, exactly because of that interest from further up the pyramid. We’ll call it an Alfie Devine intervention, as parent club Luton wanted Pepple to test himself at a higher level. In the end it’d be League Two, as Chesterfield won the race to secure his services.
Pepple was in at Chesterfield, and really had the opportunity to prove himself in the EFL for the first time. Based on reviews though, it doesn’t particularly sound like he took that chance. Whilst Southend supporters still wax lyrical about Pepple’s performances, Chesterfield fans are far more muted, and many are surprised he was signed by a team just relegated from the Championship.
I will freely admit that his numbers at Chesterfield weren’t quite as eye-catching as the ones we saw at Southend. His average number of shots per 90 dropped from exactly three to 2.29, whilst his shot accuracy fell from 54% to a much more average 41%. And crucially, he only scored five goals compared to the seven he managed at Southend, his goals per 90 figure dropping from 0.51 to 0.36.
However, scratch beneath the surface, and I think we can still take significant confidence from his Chesterfield stint. Whilst his total number of goals (and goals scored per 90) may have reduced, his expected goals data was actually strong, and arguably better than what we saw at Southend.
In his Chesterfield spell alone, Pepple posted a total xG figure of 7.43. In what I find to be a remarkable statistic, Ryan Hardie was the only Argyle player to post a higher xG than Pepple last season, even if we only consider his time at Chesterfield. And per 90, Pepple’s average xG of Chesterfield of 0.53 would have topped the charts at Argyle last term.
| Player | xG per 90 |
| Bim Pepple* | 0.53 |
| Ryan Hardie | 0.49 |
| Mustapha Bundu | 0.22 |
| Ibrahim Cissoko | 0.19 |
| Michael Obefemi | 0.15 |
| Muhamed Tijani | 0.12 |
Pepple scored five goals from his xG of 7.43, which is an underperformance. In fact, the underperformance of 2.43 is a bigger underperformance than any Argyle player posted last term – Ryan Hardie was ‘second best’ as he scored ten from an xG of 12.27. But whilst missing chances isn’t ideal, it’s better than not getting chances at all. Had Pepple’s goals dried up, and he wasn’t getting opportunities, I’d be concerned, but Argyle can work with his current numbers.
I’ve no doubt that the Greens, with sophisticated data analytics far beyond what I can freely access, had this play into their thinking. I recognise this is a bit of an “if my grandmother had wheels” argument but, if Pepple was as clinical at Chesterfield as he was at Southend, it’s not impossible that he’d have hit double figures in half a season in League Two. If he did, I think the Green Army would have been far more receptive to his arrival when it was first mooted.
A confidence striker
Argyle fans know what it’s like to have a striker who thrives on confidence, and can look lost when that confidence is lacking. Hardie practically matched that exact definition for the entirety of his long stay at Home Park. In many ways, Pepple seems to have similar traits.
The juxtaposition between his spells at Southend and Chesterfield tells a clear story. At Southend he was well liked, got onto a good run, and managed to be clinical and find the net with regularity. At Chesterfield he received a slightly colder welcome, didn’t particularly settle, and wasn’t nearly as clinical. He missed an average of 0.64 big chances per 90 in that spell, a higher figure than any Argyle player posted last season.
And I think it runs even deeper than the initial goalscoring numbers demonstrate. At Southend, for example, he once went on a run of one goal in ten games. However, he was unstoppable either side of that. He scored a brace during the 4-2 win over Solihull Moors we explored earlier, and ended his spell at the club by scoring three goals in two games. It’s straight out of the Hardie playbook.
I’m also struck by how well Pepple performs in games when he’s already scored. Across the entirety of the last campaign, he got a total of three assists. Two of those came in games where he’d also got a goal. He assisted one in the Solihull Moors game, whilst also contributing to both goals in a 2-0 win over Tamworth. It’s a strange, Freddie Ladapo-esque trait. Sure, I’d argue Ladapo was a net negative to Argyle during his season at the club. But in games where he’d already scored once, he often seemed unstoppable.
Hardie, I think it would be fair to say, could be an annoying player who missed some massive chances (Ipswich away on Bali Mumba day, anyone?). However, he always came back fighting, and in the eyes of many is now a modern-day legend having scored 74 times for Argyle. I’m not claiming Pepple is likely to hit those heights, but with him playing in a supportive environment and, crucially, with a high level of confidence, I can absolutely see a world where he goes on one or two supreme goalscoring runs.
Similarities to Oseni
When looking at Pepple’s numbers, and his career to date, I can’t help but notice significant similarities between himself and Oseni, the only other striker Argyle have brought in during the summer window to date.
Their careers have obviously taken a similar trajectory. They’re both 22, and both have enjoyed a highly successful goalscoring spell in the National League; Oseni with Gateshead and Pepple with Southend. Both have then stepped up a level and not had quite the same level of success, though significant caveats apply in both cases. Pepple missed just a few too many chances at Chesterfield, whilst Oseni didn’t fit in at St Mirren. Now, both have been given a chance in League One, which has come as a surprise to many.
In terms of player profile, there are again incredibly similar. I’ve steered clear of mentioning them up to now, but both are keen to contest in ground duels. Both are keen dribblers, both like to shoot, and both are keen to play on the shoulder of the last defender. Basically, if Argyle’s data led them to Oseni, exactly the same data would have led them towards Pepple.
Of course, that brings its own element of risk. The Greens have signed two players practically identical in style and, if their data analytics prove fruitful, they could have two gems on their hands. If one fails, however, it’s not unlikely that the same fate will befall the other. We know how these things can work though; there are innumerable variables to deciding whether a player will settle at a certain club, and in general around 50% of transfers (at maximum, I’d suggest) can be considered successful.
So, having written around 4,000 words on the pair of them, I’m going to make a final prediction based entirely on vibes. One of Oseni and Pepple will prove a successful signing, and one will flop. Which way around? I’m not going that far.