Arsenal and Sokratis: Oh ye of little faith

Arsenal’s defense isn’t seeing a lot of improvements, but how quickly have we forgotten how good Sokratis actually is? Believe in something, people!

You have to love the Arsenal fan base. It’s just a couple days after the divine news that Nicolas Pepe would be arriving this week and what are they already saying? “What about the defense?”

I get it. This defense sucks. Primarily Shkodran Mustafi, though Sokratis’s double yellows in a truly awful situation at Real Madrid was something to shake your head at for sure. It’s not the first time that’s happened either. It’s the second.

But just like that, so many people are jumping ship on Sokratis, calling him average at best, and far from reliable. Meanwhile, I’m left scratching my head, because we all said the same thing when we signed him last summer, yet throughout the year he proved himself so capable that fans were swooning over what a deal it was to get him so cheap.

Nothing has changed. Sokratis still has a temperamental side, but he is a capable defender far better than “average at best.” He is definitely ‘good,’ we can give him that much.

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But it’s more of “what have you done lately?” The same with Granit Xhaka. Xhaka spent 80% of the season in blazing form. Haters were falling by the wayside as they finally realized how important he was to the club. Then he gets hurt, comes back a bit off, and everyone seems to forget how good he actually is and the “he’s worthless!” starts up again.

Sokratis is a good, reliable defender who, with the right partner, is a tremendous asset to the club. When he combined with Laurent Koscielny last season, everything went swimmingly. It was when you stuck him with Mustafi that things went poorly, but then again, who doesn’t do poorly next to Mustafi?

Sokratis may not be the long-term solution, but he is a temporary solution that can help stem the tide more than he’s getting credit for. And if Rob Holding or Calum Chambers can latch onto that second centerback role, then we are primed to be, yet again, surprised by Sokratis’ ability to be a truly vital piece of this starting XI.

Don’t be so quick to forget how good a player can be just because of a brief relapse into the unfortunate. Sokratis is a key player this year and we will see that yet again.