Sokratis (Arsenal)

[Don Giovanni]

Sokratis says that after his contract is up in 2021 he plans to play in Asia or the US.

https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/footbal...it_352475.html

[Don Giovanni]

He cost his team in the UEL. The 3-1 loss to Rennes can be overturned, but he should have shown far more discipline.

[Amorgos]

Don did you see the yellow cards? The second yellow was a joke mate, not Scoratis's fault

[Don Giovanni]

For my money it was a soft foul and in the EPL he would have gotten away with it, but he had Slovak referee and he was playing away in France. His style is rough and handsey. The UEL is not the EPL. He has to show more discipline.

[Nikod]

Looked solid today in the 1-0 win over Newcastle partnered with chambers. I imagine he will keep his place when David luiz comes into the side

[Amorgos]

Had a shocker today vs Watford and also gifted them a goal in a 2-2 draw

[Don Giovanni]

Sokratis probably could have used the break, which makes me wonder if he'll go ahead with international retirement sooner rather than later.

[Dean97]

I hope not we need him. If Mavropanos was playing week in and week out and playing well then I wouldn’t be too concerned with Sokratis retiring. Retsos just came back from injury. Siovas has hit 32 I think. Not really a long term solution. Sokratis for now at 31 is still needed. His experienced and his leadership will be needed for the younger guys coming up. His one of the few experienced players I’d keep along with Manolas.

[Greekfreak]

Had a shocker today vs Watford and also gifted them a goal in a 2-2 draw

He's been deteriorating slowly since last season. He's definitely lost his confidence but it's hard not to when you're surrounded by kreas. That fucking Luiz trade made no sense to me even when Luiz was younger and fit. He's no defender.

Take away his hair and his nationality and nobody pays a nickle for him.

[Don Giovanni]

He seems to be stressed out and he needs a bit of a breather. I hope Emery rests him for the UEL. Despite how things are not really going as he can hope, he should remain proud of his overall achievements so far and try enjoy his football a bit more. Maybe Luiz can teach him a thing or two about the finer things in the game.

[Val]

trying to play out of the back with sokratis - not the best idea

[Don Giovanni]

One bad pass out of defense and now Sokratis is not good enough to play out of trouble? Any comment on Otamendi and Stones for the way they tried to play out of the back with Manchester City against Norwich? How about De Ligt and the hard time he's had having to adjust to life with Juventus? I'm losing track of the number of times I've seen him hoof passes forward right into opposition players. The moment Chiellini is back to fitness, De Ligt will be back on the bench.

And I saw Turkey against France recently. They couldn't string any passes together, unlike in the match with Greece. Against France, they struggled on the ball. Merih, the defender you admire so much more than our own, is a 5th ranked among Juventus defenders and has yet to play even a minute with Juventus so far. He played well against France, but he didn't look any better on the ball than any Greek defender I've seen. He's certainly not as good on the ball as Manolas who nearly scored a rocket against Liechtenstein. Other than Cengiz, the Turks really have no special players. The biggest factor in their win over France was their fans and Cengiz.

If you want to keep trashing Greek players without providing any actual insight, then stick to trashing the ones at Panathinaikos, starting with that Pakistani-Norwegian who played a golden pass to Fetfatzidis on Sunday. PAO have Super League 2 written all over them, which means 4th division for PAO because they'll need to declare bankruptcy.

[Don Giovanni]

I just got through the first half. Arsenal nearly made the same mistake not long after their second goal, except this time Leno played the ball from the goal-kick directly to Guendouzi at the top of the box and he was dispossessed within seconds after taking too long to play the ball. Arsenal got away with it after Watford missed the net. On the ensuing goal-kick, David Luiz makes Leno play him the pass and Luiz booted it up the pitch.

Arsenal have a lot of work to do on those set-plays.

[Don Giovanni]

I saw the rest of the game. I think the criticisms of Arsenal's defense isn't well placed. Arsenal lost control of the game. When they took the 2-0 lead, Arsenal had about 60% of the ball. In the second half up until Watford had gone level, Arsenal had only 37% of the ball. Watford finished the game with 31 shots. Arsenal only had 7. You can't blame the defense for that. Arsenal didn't control the game and invited too much pressure from Watford.

I think Arsenal needed to slow the game more. They weren't drawing fouls. And they played too much in their own end when they needed to play the ball higher up field. Look below at where Watford lost possession compared to Arsenal had. Watford lost possession once in their own half and near the midway line. Arsenal was playing way too deep with their possession of the ball. Also, although it's not shown in the graph below, Watford played far fewer passes out of their own goal mouth whereas Arsenal littered their goalmouth with passes. Arsenal tilted the pitch towards their half as a consequence and took too many risks with their passes.



The choice to play the ball the way Arsenal did from goal-kicks was asking for trouble. Twice before Watford's first goal, Arsenal risked conceding due to the manner they were trying to play the ball out of the goal area. Guendouzi ran into problems twice. They kept inviting pressure from Watford. Arsenal have to work at these a lot more before they keep attempting these sort of plays.

And in fairness to Sokratis, the goal shouldn't have actually stood. Deulofeu was inside the goal area before the kick was taken. With that said, it wasn't good enough from Sokratis. He slacked and paid the price for it.

And towards the end, he nearly committed another mistake. He was tired, being pulled left to right, and by the end of the action he could barely stand-up, but lucky for him Leno was able to save the day. Sokratis probably could have used a break this past week.

As for the penalty, Luiz was hoping to catch the attacker outside the area, but he didn't stop him in time. I don't blame Luiz for making a professional foul, but he fouled him a fraction too late and it was lousy penalty to concede.

The truth is both Luiz and Sokratis played well, but they made mistakes that were avoidable. The EPL is a very intense, very quick league and you can't afford to hesitate. And that was their mistakes, they hesitated. Had they been a fraction quicker and more authoritative, they would have avoided their mistakes, but Arsenal also invited more pressure than they should have. They tilted the pitch and allowed Watford to attack.

[Val]

I wouldn't use him as a passing outlet. I'd go with david luiz, who's problems are well known but for the most part, he can distribute. For the ethniki, your best bet is siovas.

I also have issues with the other players you mentioned. If we had threads about them, i'd be trashing them also.

Merih is the lesser known, thus it's easier to get excited about him. I think juve will try to mould his game to that of bonucci.

Should we only trash the usual suspects like samaris? I was all in on a younger sokratis but strictly as a defender. He's declined over the years and ending up in the arsenal defense is a fitting end. Also at 31, he prob feels he has achieved all he can. That's the feeling i get anyway.