Thierry Henry gives opinion on Nicolas Pepe – Is he right?

Thierry Henry calls for Nicolas Pepe to be given more time.

Nicolas Pepe has not had the best of starts to his Arsenal career but has received support from former Arsenal legend, Thierry Henry.

Pepe signed for a club-record £72m but has not yet quite lived up to such a large transfer fee. However, Henry feels that the amount of money paid for the Ivory Coast star should be ignored.

“People need to forget about the price tag. He didn’t ask to be bought for that amount of money himself, Henry said as reported in the Evening Standard.

“It’s not always easy to arrive in a team, adapt to a new style of play.

“The Premier League, as we know, is not the same as the French League or any other league, by the way. So he needs to adapt to that. We need to give him time.”

So, is Henry right in his viewpoint?

My opinion is that Henry does have a point, sort of. It does seem difficult to read almost any article about Pepe without his fee being mentioned.

But at the same time if you pay out that sort of money you can be forgiven for expecting a certain level of performance in return.

It is never easy to adapt to a new league, especially the Premier League. But many players do it with much lesser talent.

Confidence appears low among the players and it could easily be the case that the 24-year-old is one of those struggling but there is only so much time the fans will give any player that is underperforming.

The feeling I get from the fans is that they will be patient for a while longer but there is frustration for sure.

Once this international break is over hopefully we will see an improvement in Pepe’s form. That is surely the hope of all genuine Arsenal fans. However, the media will not be so patient and Pepe has to know that.

27 Comments

    1. He is doing relatively good Sue, he needs confidence. He gave some goals and assists, not as many as people wish, but its his first few half season. And the team is playing rubbish. And apart from numbers his performance have been fairly decent, especially when you compare to alternatives. I wish fans support the guy.

    1. His football style is Arsenal, but not this coache`s bewildering philosophy of football !

      The King needed time and so did God, so who am I to argue…………..

    2. We don’t have the Arsenal ‘playing style’ at the moment. So which playing style are you talking about?

  1. Henry needed time
    Koscielny needed time

    I’m happy to give him more time
    Emery signed big players Neymar, Draxler, Guedes. I’m sure Pepe will turn out good too.

    Many Arsenal fans have Now, Now, Now and Out Out Out mentality

  2. I believe fans should forget about reported transfer fees and salaries, just concentrate on what they do for the club in games.

  3. He hasn’t got off to the best of starts, but, and this a big but, he has the most inept coach behind him. I think we’ll only see the best of him once Emery has gone, and we get a coach who knows how to set a team up properly, plays players in their correct positions, and has tactics that the players understand and work.

    Emery is slowly but surely sucking the confidence and enthusiasm from even the most experienced players.

    I’m not expecting an upturn in our form until Enery goes.

  4. Henry knows, he had a slow start at arsenal, the kid has talent you can see it. Lots of players have come into this league and made slow starts but once they ger settled and acclimatised they kick on. Pepe is young and he has talent, i am sure he will be a very good player. Its a bit like starting a new school for those that have, its all strange for quite a while getting used to the surroundings.

  5. If Xhaka or Torreira leave we need to use the money to buy Thomas Partey from Athletico. Has not signed a new contract as has a 44m release clause.

    He will be the anchor at the midfield for years to come.

  6. Zaha would have been the better option. He is ready. Hungry and direct.an Ivorian thiery henry. But sadly, zaha would be used incorrectly by Emery

    1. Ivorian Henry?? 😂😂 they have completely different styles, play in a different position and Henry was twice the player zaha will ever be lol

  7. With all the time required for him to kick running in form, I still hope he doesn’t turn to be the next “Gervinho”.
    Lols..
    Saying though.

  8. The lad looks bewildered at times, maybe it’s the tactics or he just needs time to adjust to the club and the country. His talent is obvious and once he gains confidence he will be a threat to any defence.

    Even the great Dennis Bergkamp needed time to settle so a little patience is required.

    1. Andrew, from memory, Dennis needed nine games before he scored (I’m probably wrong), Henry took half a season and Pires about the same time.

      I just hope that UE and the boo-boys don’t knock the confidence out of him though.

      1. There is always that danger Ken, we need to nurture this young lad who could turn out to be a superstar given a bit of time and patience.

      2. Ken, Henry scored away to Saints in October and it took off from there. Not half a season at all. Nor with Dennis. As you say, 9 games. And they both had plenty about them as people, which so many modern players, all over, just do not have. THE SNOWFLAKE AND VICTIM MENTALITY PREVENTS SO MANY TALENTED PLAYERS EVER DEVELOPING THE HARD SHELL THAT ALL NEED TO BE SUCCESFUL TOP PLAYERS. I NOTE THOUGH THAT JUST ABOUT ALL at City and Liverpool have that hard shell and there I rest my case. QED!

  9. Agree Andrew.He has bags of talent but seems to be permanently stuck out on the right wing when he ought to be given more license to switch to the left which is his natural side.Manager’s are becoming obsessed with playing inverted wingers whereas a traditional left winger can cause havoc by crossing the ball on the run like Bale used to do at Spurs and Sane does at Man City when fit.He should be given a more flexible role to display his undoubted skills.

  10. He needs some good amount of game time, it is clear that every corner he takes you have a feeling that something can come out of it. He has the talent no doubt he’ll be the next big thing if he comes good eventually.

  11. Pepe needs time. Anybody would struggle to perform with Emery’s confusing tactics. Good thing about Pepe is his dribbling is already good and kicking. But he needs to find his synergy with the team and also needs to develop good judgement about when to dribble and when to be direct with passes. We have a player of caliber of Sterling, if not better, at our hand if he is handled well. Sterling has changed from a dribbler to a more direct player and he just can’t stop scoring now. That’s what Pepe needs to work on, find that balance. I’m actually not worried about him, he will be a great asset in time.

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors