Nicolas Pepe needs support and not to be overly criticised.
Nicolas Pepe is one of the more criticised members of the Arsenal starting XI and people forget most of the time that he just moved to England.
After breaking our transfer record to sign him, I can forgive fans for expecting so much so soon from him despite this season being his first in England.
Pepe has shown flashes of his quality, but the Ivorian lacks the consistency to help Arsenal this season, however, it is still very early days.
One game that probably sums up the positive part of his spell at Arsenal this season was when he came off the bench to score two freekicks against Vitoria Guimaraes.
Most of the other time he is being criticized for either ghosting through games, misplacing passes or missing a goal.
For all the criticisms that have been levelled at him, I think that Pepe deserves more credit than he is getting.
We have to remember that the French League isn’t as strong as the Premier League, yet Pepe has managed to do well enough to have scored five goals and provided four assists in his first season here.
Jesse Lingard doesn’t have half of those numbers, while James Maddison has been involved in just three more goals than Pepe has.
For me, Pepe has a lot more to offer to Arsenal and with proper management from Mikel Arteta, he will become an important player for Arsenal.
There will be a time to judge him harshly but that time is not here yet, right now he needs our support and not condemnation.
An article from Jacob B