Arsenal: Seriously, can Konstantinos Mavropanos save us now?

Arsenal’s defense as a collective wasn’t even the primary problem against Manchester City, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need saving, and Konstantinos Mavropanos is the guy.

I don’t like looping the problems of one individual onto the team as a unit. Manchester City was a strange match where individual mistakes undid the team. As a unit, I feel that Arsenal did quite well, actually, other than creating chances.

But because of a mistake by Alex Iwobi, some consistently poor positioning by Stephan Lichtsteiner, and a missed far post run by Nacho Monreal, the club succumbed to three goals which, all things considered, isn’t even that bad of a result in the big picture.

The thing is, in the heap of individual errors, there was Laurent Koscielny, who was near perfect on the match, save for that one strange aerial duel that he forfeited to Sergio Aguero before proceeding to foul him.

It was a reminder though, that Koscielny is a rock again – he’s reliable. He’s a defender that we can count on to do his part and start whipping this defense into some semblance of hope.

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When he had Sokratis with him, that was even better. Here we had two experienced defenders who know how to hold down a back line. That doesn’t solve the problems at fullback, but it was a start, and everything has to begin with a start.

With Sokratis’ injury, the reliability is seemingly on pause as we deal with Shkodran Mustafi, who, while physically something special, is mentally something not. He’s quite far from being reliable, and as long as he is in that back line, there are going to be questions asked, and not enough answers to go around.

Konstantinos Mavropanos made his first appearance of the season as a substitute against City and while he didn’t have much to do, what little he did do was convincing. But it was last season, and the job he did then, that is the main thing driving this plea for defensive help.

While Koscielny and Sokratis showed a lot of solidity, the need for long-term solutions is still clear and prevalent, and that is where Mavropanos can come in as a savior, to make this summer’s transfer dealings so much easier. Spare us from a market of uncertain fates, and just be a reliable defender. Bypass all the growth pains.

The opening is there, now he just needs the opportunity.