Arsenal: The Sokratis Method, defending how it should be done

Sokratis has settled into his role at Arsenal incredibly well, and nowhere was that better seen than in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham at Wembley.

When you look at the numbers, Sokratis didn’t do anything special for Arsenal against Tottenham. He completed just one tackle and not a single interception. He won two headers, which was less than Laurent Koscielny‘s three and even his five clearances were less than Koscielny’s seven.

He only made 19 passes, completing just 57% of them. It’s not like he did any one statistical thing remarkably well.

What Sokratis did, though, was defend the way we’ve wanted a defender to defend for years. There’s no hiding from the fact that, coming into this match, the defense was suspect. Hell, going into any match, this defense is suspect.

But Unai Emery chose the pairing that has showed the most potential – Sokratis and Koscielny, and they each played their part to perfection, thoroughly deserving of the clean sheet, despite the injustice done to them on the wrongful penalty.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Sokratis won the man of the match here at Pain in the Arsenal for one big reason – he completely negated any attacking play that got anywhere near him. Whether it came through Harry Kane or Eriksen or Son, Sokratis stood his ground, refused to let anyone around or through him, and no threat ever came by way of Sokratis’s lane.

You know what they say – if a defender plays his part properly, he shouldn’t need to rack up the tackles or the interceptions, because he is one step ahead of any such reactionary measures. That was Sokratis on the day, and he knew he was in his element.

In one particular instance early on, after clearing his lines, Sokratis went over and interacted with the Arsenal supporters and the commentators started jawing, “I’d focus on the match if I were him.”

Well, Sokratis was focused on the match, because he didn’t put a foot out of place throughout the course of those 90 minutes. He was unshakeable, unbreakable, and as no-nonsense as ever there was. I think Kane spent more time on the ground in the goal box than he did on his feet, because Sokratis kept clearing him out by brute strength alone, holding his ground like he was ready to die in that box.

We’ve seen this from Sokratis before, 100% of the time it comes when he is in a back two, and can thus dedicate himself to a very specific plot of land, where he doesn’t get pulled out and stretched too thin.

It’s the Sokratic Method of defending, and it is so incredibly valuable. Hopefully we can have many more years of it going forward in the Unai Emery era.