Andy Townsend has slammed Arsenal defender Sokratis after his performance in the 2-2 draw against Norwich City on Sunday afternoon.
The BBC pundit claimed that the Gunners need to appoint a coach who can come in and teach their players how to defend properly at the Emirates Stadium.
Townsend singled out Sokratis admitting that he is nowhere near good enough and that he wouldn’t get into any other side’s defence in the Premier League.
“Arsenal need someone to come in and teach them about defending,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Sokratis is nowhere near good enough. I don’t think he would get into any Premier League side.”
The Greek international has started 12 of Arsenal’s opening 14 fixtures in the Premier League this season, with the Gunners currently having the only minus goal difference in the top half of the table.
Should Sokratis be dropped?
That is just one of the many decisions facing Freddie Ljungberg ahead of Thursday’s clash against Brighton.
There is an argument to say that any of Arsenal’s defence could be dropped and no eyebrows would be raised if they were forced to sit on the bench.
Both Sokratis and David Luiz have formed a calamitous partnership alongside Shkodran Mustafi, and back-to-back draws against both Southampton and Norwich, who are both battling relegation only proved how poor they have been.
It was Luiz who made the mistakes against Southampton, but Sokratis didn’t cover himself in glory on Sunday. Both of Norwich’s goals came from slack marking and allowing players like Todd Cantwell to have way too much freedom in the final third to pick his slot.
Sokratis has averaged 1.3 tackles per game according to WhoScored, which is more than Luiz and Mustafi but still nowhere near good enough if his side are to start keeping more clean sheets.
Townsend may have gone too far to suggest he wouldn’t get into any other Premier League side, with teams such as Watford desperately struggling, but his claim only proves just how poor the Gunners’ defence has actually been.
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