'Pepe has to generate fear in our opponents'

Mikel Arteta makes no attempt to hide the fact that he is very demanding of his squad.

Nicolas Pepe is one such player that our head coach is keen to see more from - and he believes the Ivorian possesses all the traits to become a major attacking threat.

"It is clear that [Pepe's] consistency has not been at the level that he can produce, he is the first one to accept that, that’s what I’m going to demand from a player of his level, calibre," Arteta said.

"He has to be producing every three days at the level that he can be. He has to be a player that makes the difference, that is a threat, generates fear in the opponents and gives us a big threat in the final third and his work-rate has to be related as well with that kind of performance. 

"He knows that. He is such a nice kid, trying really hard and you have to respect the timing, the way he has adapted for the first year as well. A lot happened to him and we have to understand that and he is willing and I’m sure we are going to get the best out of him, I’m convinced of that.

 

"It’s taking those flash moments into a consistent mode and that for a creative wide player to do it is a big task so every detail has to be [right] because it makes huge difference and his mentality as well. 

"His mindset has to be all the time like that. He needs to win the game for the team and he is one of the players that we have in the squad that has to do it and take that responsibility."