Arsenal's Supporters Must Stick With Nicolas Pepe & Give Him Time to Shine

It's been a difficult first season at Arsenal for club-record signing Nicolas Pepe, or that's what you'd be led to believe if your reviews were based solely on the opinions of those who indulge in social media rambling.

Nowadays, if you take more than a couple of games to settle in to your rhythm, the 20/20 visionaries of football Twitter decide you're a flop. One can only imagine how Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry - three Gunners greats who had slow starts to their career in north London - would have fared under such scrutiny.

Undoubtedly the Premier League is a tough division - Pepe isn't the first to take a while to find his feet and he most certainly won't be the last.

But for some reason, it's become an expectation, rather than a hope, that new signings will set the world alight as soon as they step foot in England. Some players do, others however need more time - and if fans are prepared to be patient with their big money investments - or at least give them some kind of time to acclimatise - they will likely reap the rewards.

Aside from needing time to adjust to a tougher, more physically demanding league, there are plenty of reasons why the Ivory Coast international has failed to stamp his authority this year. A significant one being that he's arrived at the club when, for the most part, Arsenal have been in turmoil.

In the early stages of this season, the Gunners were playing a disjointed, back and forth basketball style of football - known as peak 'Emeryball' to some - and every single player looked out of sorts as a result. Arsenal were genuinely being discussed as relegation candidates, with the complete lack of structure and organisation leaving many baffled by the instructions being handed down by Unai Emery.

It's no wonder Pepe looked like a lost puppy to begin with.

The truth is that Arsenal have rarely played to Pepe's strengths this year. For large parts of the season, he's been tasked with playing a role that he is neither familiar with nor suited to playing.

It's clear where he's most dangerous - playing as an inside forward, angling towards goal with his lethal left foot - but we've only seen glimpses of what he's truly capable of, as more often than not he's been asked to stay out wide and stretch the game.

This is largely due to Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang's presence on the other flank. You simply can't ask the club's mercurial captain to play as a more natural winger, as it would be a complete waste of his goalscoring talents. With someone having to lose out, it's inevitable that Pepe would get the short straw.

The task becomes for the manager then, how can he get the best out of both players? Well, Mikel Arteta's answer - in the latter stages of the season at least - was to switch to a back three, something that made Arsenal a more formidable force post-lockdown.

With the full-backs instead holding the width, both Pepe and Aubemayang can drift inside - and it's a system that the former Lille superstar has looked far better suited to. In two of the Gunners' three FA Cup ties post-lockdown, he was one of the best players on the pitch - darting inside with pace and looking to use his wand of a left foot.

It's unlikely Arteta will stick with this formation next season, but the sentiments still stand in regards to how the Spaniard gets the best out of Pepe. Overlapping full-backs at the very least are a must, or there's a danger that he'll just fade into mediocrity out wide on the touchline.

Another factor to consider when analysing Pepe's season is that he's been playing in the rather large shadow of his perpetuated £72m price tag. This is a staggering amount of cash - even if it is being paid in instalments - and there's no doubting that he'll have felt the pressure of being the club's record signing. Perhaps the club overpaid, but the pressure was sure heaped on Pepe when the financial details of the deal were made public.

Pepe's potential is obvious and he's shown moments of genuine brilliance. But as with most players still developing, he's inconsistent and needs to improve in certain areas.

His dribbling and delivery into the box are already top level, but it's decision making that leaves a little something to be desired. On countless occasions, he'd hold on to the ball for too long, when he should have released it forward or inside.

Those are the kind of things you don't expect for a £72m-rated signing, but this isn't Pepe's problem - he didn't choose to be worth that amount or be associated to such a figure, Arsenal chose to cough up that amount.

What Arsenal fans need to do is put the price tag aside and recognise he's not yet the finished article. There's no doubt the talent is there, and with a good coach like Arteta now overseeing things, there's bound to be improvements.

Be patient with Pepe, allow him to develop without the unrelenting pressure and abuse players are normally subject to and you will reap the rewards. If he can continue to improve next year and become more consistent with clear structure and a role that suits him, Arsenal will have a serious player on their hands.

Even if they don't, he at least can say he dribbled past Virgil van Dijk - and that's got to be worth £72m, right?