Arsenal must learn how to get tougher, says Sokratis
Sometimes, actions speak louder than words, and Sokratis Papastathopoulos spoke with his hands rather than his mouth when he was asked what Arsenal would need when they faced the aerial assault of Cardiff City this weekend.
Clenching his fingers, the centreback punched his fist three times as a menacing scowl was etched upon his face. The message was obvious: Arsenal need to be solid, tough and ready to battle. Sokratis believes they could do with being a little more cynical, too.
During Saturday’s 3-1 defeat of West Ham United, they spent much of the first half chasing shadows as they struggled to cope with rapid counter-attacks. It is not the sort of approach that Arsenal have grown used to over the years, but Sokratis said those breaks needed to be stopped at source.
“We are experienced players and we sometimes have to be a bit more clever,” said the Greek centre-back, signed from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. “When we do not have the ball, in some situations when we have to make fouls, we make fouls and take a card and finish [the danger]. Then we do not take the counter-attack. If they play with counter-attack, they can play with 30 per cent of the ball but still make chances.”
The defender’s call for his teammates to be nastier will be music to the ears of Arsenal fans, who for so long have had to put up with a team who have seemed without spine. The concern, however, will be that old habits die hard, and that the defensive structure of the side under Unai Emery remains haphazard.
“We have to defend all together and work better when we do not have the ball,” said Sokratis. “We are one team. We are very offensive but we have to pay attention when we do not have the ball. When we came in, the manager said to us that we have to play better in the defensive part. We were better in the second half, but we still need work.”
These are the negatives, but there were also plenty of positives. Goals from Nacho Monreal and Danny Welbeck added to an own goal from West Ham’s Issa Diop as Emery’s side reacted well to falling behind to Marko Arnautovic’s opener.
There was encouragement to take from the performance of striker Alexandre Lacazette, intro- duced at half-time. Signed for £50million last summer, Lacazette has insisted he can play alongside Pierre-emerick Aubameyang, despite Emery’s preference for using just one central forward.
Lacazette said Emery had given him no reassurances on playing this season, but added: “I just have to work every day and try to play for the first XI. I just want to play and help my team.”
For West Ham, this was the third successive defeat of the season but comfortably their most impressive performance. If they had not been so wasteful in attack, they could have won this by half-time.
“I don’t think there are many teams who will come to the Emirates and create that many chances,” said Robert Snodgrass, the West Ham midfielder. ‘‘We performed very well today.’’