Arsenal: There it is, Nicolas Pepe has been called the ‘F’ word

Arsenal fans are often exploited by click-baiting headlines that prey on their fickleness, so it was only a matter of time before the ‘F’ word was used towards Nicolas Pepe.

It’s the same old drill. Arsenal fans are frustrated with their limp club, they are lashing out at anyone and everyone, and all those fine and upstanding “news” outlets out there are preying on their frustrations by saying all the inflammatory things you could ever dream of. Enter Nicolas Pepe.

You knew it was coming. You just knew it. Nicolas Pepe has been at the club less than five months, which is less than half a season (if you needed further clarity) and he is caught in a whirlwind of insecurity, with some fans begging for him to start despite poor performances and others dubbing him a waste of money.

As such, it was only a matter of time before someone out there deployed the ‘F’ bomb in a professional capacity and yesterday, I finally saw it. “Arsenal flop Nicolas Pepe….”

I stopped reading the headline, looked where it came from, and immediately understood, because they are a fountain of this kind of vitriol.

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Say it with me: Nicolas Pepe is not a flop.

It’s completely irrational to give a guy a few months to transition from Ligue 1 to a club that’s struggling to maintain their place in the top flight of the top division of the top league and judge him so harshly for those few months.

You can be critical of him. You can wish he scored more goals, or created more chances, or brought more intensity, like he did at Lille, and that’s fine. Because he will. But right now, let me pull out that ‘A’ word again, since no one seems to get it. He is acclimating.

Every single player who has ever changed clubs has had to do it. It’s not a new thing. Even Alexis Sanchez, who hit the ground running, had to acclimate in the second half of his first season. Pepe is just doing the reverse, and acclimating early rather than later. Big whoop.

If you’re one of the people who buys into the notion that our record signing is a flop, you’re absolutely wrong. And I’m sure this won’t convince you otherwise, because I know how bullheaded fans get (myself included) but now that I’ve said it (again) I can pretend like I’ve done a little good for the world.