Arsenal: Sokratis’ mentality the best thing about him

Arsenal have officially completed the signing of Sokratis Papastathapoulos. While the defender has his flaws, one thing that I love is his mentality. In fact, it is the best thing about him.

It is finished. After over a month of slow developments, delays, uncertainty of progress but always underpinned by a confidence in its completion, Arsenal have officially signed Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathapoulos for a fee in the region of £16-18 million depending on the reports that you choose to believe.

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Much has been said about the 30-year-old’s ability. Some have questioned his drop in performance in last year, his propensity for committing mindless, individual, momentary errors, and the leaky Dortmund defence that he was a part of, while others have praised his warrior-like spirit, his willingness to fight and scrap, and his physicality, which will aid greatly in the Premier League.

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I am slightly concerned by the frequency of the mistakes that he has made. The last thing that Arsenal need is another defender who has a tendency to fall asleep at crucial moments, take up poor defensive positions, and get caught out by mentally sharp attackers. But his comments from the official press release are certainly nice to hear. Here is what he said when asked about his playing style:

"“I’m a normal defender who likes to defend. I like that my team doesn’t [concede] goals and I like the zero in the defence of course. I will do everything to help achieve these goals.  I think that a defender first has to defend, to protect the goal, and then after if he can help in front a little bit for the game, then it’s good. But first of all, he has to defend.”"

While on the pitch this mentality may not have always come to the fore, with mistakes and positional unattentiveness more prevalent that an insatiable will to defend, the state of mind that Sokratis describes himself with is undoubtedly the best thing about him.

For many years, Arsenal have had defenders who do not defend first. They are ball-playing centre-halves who are more concerned with how they can create and distribute from deep, rather than how they can stop the other team from scoring. Those players are important. In the modern game, centre-backs need to be comfortable in possession, especially as opposing teams increasingly look to press high up the pitch.

But it must come with a balance. Under Arsene Wenger, this team had lost that balance. Even players who were good defenders were focused on what they could do with the ball, not what they could do without it. Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Calum Chambers, Arsenal’s first-choice centre-halves last season all want to have the ball. And they are good with it. But they are defenders. Perhaps they should focus on defending first.

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That is the mentality that Sokratis will bring to the defence. He may make mistakes, he may lack smart positioning at times, he may fall to sleep every now and then, but his best asset is the will to defend that he will not only offer himself, but will implement in those around him. That is invaluable.