Arsenal: Time to wrap our heads around Sokratis role

Arsenal’s deal for Sokratis looks like it’s done, which means that it’s time to make sense of where we go from here, because it’s not very simple.

Arsenal’s defense was the seat of nearly every single problem that faced the club this past year. So it only makes sense that the first player they signed was a defender, and that two of the heaviest link players are centerbacks.

Not to mention the second signing being a keeper. It’s all pretty simple – fix the defense, solve the biggest problem on the club, improve the club. Plain and simple.

Sokratis was the first senior centerback that the Gunners went after. The Sven Mislintat connection strikes again. And while the Greek is not exactly the token definition of a sure-fire improvement, let’s start thinking about where he fits in, because now the Guardian is even reporting the deal is done.

Sokratis is the most veteran member of this defense, as well as being the newest. He’s found relative success at Borussia Dortmund, and the only reason why we would have acquired him in the first place is if he is going to be trusted with serious defensive duties.

With Laurent Koscielny out, the logical explanation is that Sokratis slips in to Koscielny’s slot, next to Shkodran Mustafi, and the defense is build around these two.

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But the problem there is simple – is Sokratis really better than Koscielny? Even in his poor form last year? Probably not. Because Sokratis wasn’t that good last year either. So if the plan is to put Sokratis and Mustafi together, would that not be making the defense worse than it already was?

The idea is to improve. To improve, you have to isolate the main problem – personal, mental mistakes.

In order to do that, you can’t put one error-prone defender in for another.

The defender who was the most consistent, with the least personal mistakes last season was Calum Chambers. Meaning that, if we want to improve (which we do), the best way to do that is to let Chambers into the starting XI and build from there.

If that involves playing next to Sokratis or Mustafi, I don’t care, but the point is to eliminate mistakes, not throw bodies into the defense and hope it works.

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Sokratis will have low expectations, which should give him enough freedom to actually find a steady place on this team. It just depends on how high that will go.

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