Freddie Ljungberg has raved about the ‘unbelievable’ Nicolas Pepe, during Sky Sports’ coverage of Arsenal’s clash against Leeds, but admitted that he feels ‘sorry’ for him (these comments were made before his red card last night)
When Pepe receives that ball in the attacking third, his left-foot is a weapon that can cause many nightmares to opposition defenders, but unfortunately for Arsenal fans, they haven’t seen enough of it.
Unai Emery was the one who purchased the 25-year-old speedster from Lile for a club-record fee, but those in North London haven’t seen the performances that they were expecting of him.
Ljungberg would have coached Pepe during his time at the club and he shared an interesting insight into the player before he was sent off for a headbutt during Arsenal’s draw at Leeds.
“I feel sorry for him a little bit,” said Ljungberg. “I think the price-tag is like people judge him on the price-tag and not what he does on the pitch.
“I know I got criticised the last time I said it, but I said to people when you come from the French league, you sometimes need a bit of time to adapt and it’s different in England. But if you let him play his game, one v one, he is extremely good. It’s more in the build-up where he has to make the right decisions and he needs to learn.
On how he gets better: “Play more games in the Premier League. In training, take on board what the coaches are telling him when you make the right decisions or not. Try to put him in a situation where he can be one against one because one against one, he is unbelievable. You don’t know what side he is going on, he can open up with his left foot and he can curl that in every day of the week.”
The many problems Pepe has faced since moving to North London is the big price-tag on his shoulders. Plus, he joined a team who have been through a tough period for far too long now.
If Arsenal aren’t doing the business on the field of play then it’s easy pointing the finger at the big-money summer signing, even if it’s obvious that there are bigger problems at the club.
But that’s what happens when you play for a club the size of Arsenal and this campaign is a big one for Pepe because he needs to take that next step else questions will be asked of him – and headbutting the opposition isn’t helping his cause.
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