Arsenal: Sokratis is just the kind of nuisance that was needed

Arsenal’s defense needs tremendous help, mainly in the health department, but for his part, Sokratis has been a massive lift in unconventional ways.

Another day without a clean sheet and fans have to be wondering just what Arsenal can do to stem the tide. The win was well-earned, but there was no hiding the nerves that come about when the defense is so beaten and battered that you can’t even field more than one centerback.

That said, the one centerback that was out there was Sokratis, and if ever there was one man I would want to have out there, now having seen how he handled it, and having seen it in the past, it would be exactly that man – Sokratis.

There was a lot of talk when Sead Kolasinac arrived that what he brought was more than just a positive attacking punch. He brought the grit, the meanness, the thing that you hate when opposing players have, but love when you have it.

Sokratis played fantastically from a defensive standpoint. He cleared the ball from danger eleven times all on his own and was there to sweep up messes more than once.

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But then there were the extracurriculars. The multiple wrestling matches that he had with Ashley Barnes and the subsequent stone-faced denials that he did anything wrong. It earned him a yellow card, which was part of the problem against Southampton, not having him available, but at the end of the day, I’d much rather he do those things than not.

It makes him an absolute nuisance. A pain in the neck to be around. And that is exactly what I want my defenders to be. Sokratis was not going to allow any funny business to go on around him unless he was the proprietor of that funny business. He’s just one of those guys, the kind that I don’t think Arsene Wenger would have been all that fond of.

It’s nice to have mean players again, but he is a different sort of mean even then Kolasinac. He’s a pest. And a damn strong one at that. And frankly I couldn’t be any happier about it.

Sokratis is growing into this role more and more and now all I can think about is just that I wish we could have gotten him sooner. I just love what he brings to the club and hope that he can play until he’s 40. Or 50.