Pepe’s struggles continue as Arsenal struggle past Bournemouth but it’s time for fans to get off his back
IT’S time for Arsenal fans to get off Nicolas Pepe’s back.
He’s already got a huge weight on his shoulders after becoming the club’s record buy from Lille in the summer.
With the £72million price-tag, it comes with the expectancy to ease the growing burden on strike partner Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
But so far it’s had the opposite effect having hit the target just once this season in a comeback victory over Aston Villa.
Just eight games into the new season and there is a growing feeling that he is already becoming a scapegoat for supporters.
Especially after being overshadowed by 18-year-old academy prospect Bukayo Saka.
He was heavily criticised against Manchester United in the 1-1 draw having proved massively wasteful with his final ball.
Not for the first time either and it led to former Arsenal defender Martin Keown claiming that Lille will be “laughing all the way to the bank.”
Tell that to the French side who will be missing the 22 goals and 11 assists he notched last season.
It’s fair to suggest that Pepe’s honeymoon period at the Emirates barely got off the ground, if at all.
Everyone who knows the Premier League will be aware how rare it is for a player to come into England’s top flight and make an instant impression.
Bernardo Silva is a prime example and even he made more substitute appearances than starts in his debut season at Manchester City.
After the draw at United, Roy Keane said: “His poor work rate, his lack of quality and end product, and again his body language, he doesn’t seem up for the fight.”
But today there were glimpses to prove that there are no reasons why he can’t become a huge success in the Prem.
Just two minutes into the contest he looked lively as he tore down the right before playing a wonderful pass into the feet of Aubameyang.
Then he came close to scoring his second for the club when his left-footed strike curled just wide of the target.
He desperately needs one of those to go in to get the fans on his side.
And there was nothing wrong with his left-foot for Arsenal’s goal when his wicked in-swinger from the corner found the head of David Luiz to score the winner.
The rest of the first half was scrappy and Pepe looked bang up for his as he hustled and bustled his way through three Bournemouth players to emerge with the ball.
It’s quite evident that Pepe is a player who thrives on confidence – when it’s not going for him he hides and looks like he wants to crawl into a deep hole.
His shoulders drop and it’s almost as though he’s ready to make a dart for the nearest fire exit.
That’s what happened in the second half as a few misplaced passes were greeted by echoes of frustration from supporters.
After a stray pass on around 55 minutes, one fan sitting a few feet from Emery audibly screamed “get him off.”
It appeared Emery had similar views and hooked him off on the hour mark in favour of youngster Gabriel Martinelli.
It’s another pretty damning indictment on Pepe with the Ivorian coming off instead of Saka.
To give Pepe some credit, not many of his team-mates can come out of that second half with their heads held high.
Even golden boy Aubameyang struggled to get himself involved.
Luckily for him, Arsenal came out on top and moved up to third with their scrappy victory and they’ll have two weeks over the international break before travelling to Sheffield United.
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Nobody needs that break more than Pepe at the moment.
Alexandre Lacazette’s injury and Arsenal lack of depth in attack means Emery is being forced to throw him into the starting XI and so far it’s hindering his progress in an Arsenal shirt.
The break will do him good but what he needs is patience and support from fans and in particular fellow ex-pros.