Ian Wright told Premier League Productions that Nicolas Pepe didn’t go past his Brentford counterpart ‘once’ on Friday during Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat.
The 26-year-old was up against the forward-thinking Rico Henry on the right-flank, but just like many Arsenal players on the night, they struggled to perform.
It was a worrying start for Pepe, Mikel Arteta and many of the Arsenal players who were beaten comfortably by the newly-promoted team.
Wright stated that he felt Kieran Tierney was ‘still our best player’ on the night, but the lack of forward-thinking play needs to be addressed.
“Pepe, I don’t think he went past his man once tonight,” said Wright. “Emile Smith Rowe was tight when he got the ball.
“When Saka came on, Kieran Tierney for me still our best player, we started to create more chances.
“But, other than that, we didn’t get it through them. We needed to get it through the lines, so we could really commit them.
“That’s where we have to make a massive change at some stage in the season.”
Arsenal can point towards Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette missing, but this was against a very inexperienced Brentford side.
Last season, Arteta did well to survive that dreaded campaign given what the North London side produced during the winter period and then getting knocked out by Unai Emery in the Europa League.
With crowds back in the ground, the Arsenal fans won’t tolerate that for much longer and that game against Chelsea next week might just be a difficult one for the players.
If they show glimpses of that same performance against the European champions then they will rip them to shreds.
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