Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos has played the full 90 minutes in all of the Gunners’ Premier League games so far this season.
The Greek international has been part of a defence that has conceded nine goals in five matches and hasn’t yet kept a clean sheet.
However, fans on Twitter don’t think the £17.6m signing from Borussia Dortmund is to blame for the club’s poor defensive record:
This guy is a good defender but anyone will struggle playing alongside Bellerin and Mustafi,Both Bailey and sokratis are good defenders but they play with clowns.
— El Akkian (@Aslinasircade) 17 September 2018
If we had a bigger transfer budget i dont think he would be 1 of our targets, however he has impressed me and i cant wait for Koscielny to return and them 2 playing together
7/10— ManLikeDan (@ManLikeDanAFC) 17 September 2018
Average first few games. Only one game I could ever really call him poor. Last game against Newcastle he was good. Still doubtful of how good a buy he was. 6, maybe 7.
— TSL????????️#DissolveTheUnion (@TSL_Scotland) 17 September 2018
A high 7, haven’t seen him do too many errors but needs to improve on playing out from the back and has to have a strong defensive partner because Mustafi is useless
— ???? (@Amoory_239) 17 September 2018
I will give 6/10 so far. Is the communication, unfamiliarity of the league or the style of play but something is not quite right. But I think once Koscienly is back, they would form a great p
Haven't seen him make a costly error, but as a part of a unit which has failed to keep a clean sheet, and nothing spectacular, a steady 6.5. Gets a bit of leeway with new coach, new team & new league.
— BitcoinBizzle (@leach_ross) 17 September 2018
atmership.— Noor Muktar (@NoorMuktar5) 17 September 2018
He has got better from the season start, I trend I hope he continues.
I'll give an 8 and most of that is because what I saw at Newcastle.
I'd love to see him partner Konstantinos Mavropanos cos I think he's be even better acting as a mentor towards his younger colleague— Garth (@BecalmedMadness) 17 September 2018
8/10, can see him starting to fully adjust to the league now was very impressive against Newcastle can see him getting even better as the games go on.
— Andy Whelan (@Andywhelan14) 17 September 2018
He and monreal have been great. Mustafi and bellerin, have been less than average, no surprised there
— Diobe Belle (@Mrbeewang) 18 September 2018
7. He was directly responsible for one goal v. Chelsea. Other than that, he has played pretty well (at least in my opinion)
— Kafka Inconnue (@InconnueKafka) 17 September 2018
Sokratis has certainly looked more solid than his centre-back partner Shkodran Mustafi, who has made a number of mistakes this campaign already.
It will be interesting to see how the Greek defender does alongside Laurent Koscielny when the Frenchman returns to match fitness. The centre-half is still out with an Achilles injury but he is expected to return to action in November.
We may see manager Unai Emery make a few changes for Thursday’s match against Vorskla in the Europa League. It will be interesting to see whether the Gunners boss looks to use Sokratis’s fellow countryman Konstantinos Mavropanos who impressed when playing for the first team at the back end of last season.
