In the last Premier League game against Norwich City, new Arsenal boss Freddie Ljungberg refused to bring on Nicolas Pepe, the club’s record signing.
Despite making three changes, people were a little surprised that Pepe was left on the bench. The game ended 2-2 as the Gunners could not find the winner.
Speaking after the game, Ljungberg commented on his refusal to bring on Pepe and that has caused a little concern. According to Express, he said:
“Nicolas Pepe is a very good player, but I looked at what we did in training and what I see every day and that is how I judge it.
“Everybody in the squad is important but I look to how players train in the week and I felt what we needed at that time, they were putting a lot of pressure on us, Bukayo has enormous pace and I thought he would be good.”
From his comments it could be said that he does not feel that Pepe was up to the mark. This can be further evidenced by the fact that he brought on Saka and Martinelli instead of the Ivorian. The going has not been too smooth for the winger as he has struggled to establish himself in the Gunners team.
He has scored 3 goals and bagged few assists as well but fans will certainly be expecting more from someone who has cost a lot of money. After scoring the winner against Vitoria in the Europa League, he has not been picked in the team as much as he would have liked. Former Gunners manager Unai Emery who was very inconsistent with his team selection decided to leave Pepe out of the squad in the past few matches.
This is why it was surprising to see even Ljungberg leave him out of the playing eleven. That game against the Portuguese team is incidentally the last game that Arsenal won. Results have not gone to plan and it is on players such as Pepe to help the team come good again.
It is possible that Pepe is finding the physicality of England a little hard to deal with but there is no doubt that he is one talented player as we have seen in flashes.
Pepe will eventually come good but fans will be hoping that this happens sooner rather than later. It will take more than one game for Ljungberg to put his stamp on the Gunners’ squad and he may soon start looking towards Pepe to contribute in an effective manner.
