Sokratis Papastathopoulos: Mentor to Plato and Holding

[Ricardinho]

Got sent off in Europa League game out in Rennes but that's bout it I think.

 

[Toby]

Got sent off in Europa League game out in Rennes but that's bout it I think.

Yep, got sent off once in the first leg against Rennes with two yellows.

So that's no sent offs in the league and one in the EL.

 

[Tourbillion]

Bit of an idiot, this guy, no?

 

[African Flair]

Bit of an idiot, this guy, no?

Some Greeks are just a bit mental.

 

[Toby]

Bit of an idiot, this guy, no?

I think not more than Kos is/was. They're both frontfooted aggressive defenders and they work best next to a more balanced, a bit more hands off and organized partner. Kos was best next to Mertesacker, Sokratis next to Hummels and I don't think it's surprising he was best at Arsenal next to Holding.

 

[Hunta]

Over/under 15 yellows next season in the league?

VAR will destroy this clogger.

 

[OnlyOne]

Thank God we have Sokratis or we'd be shipping 70+ goals. Our best defender.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

I was really unimpressed by the signing at the time a year later and it looks like I've been proven right again. It annoys me tho because he's our player it's not like with Morata where I was proven right about a rival player I don't like being proven right about our own players like this.

He's just too impulsive, gets too tight at times, his reading of the game is questionable and he seems unable to keep the line well with a habit of dropping too deep at times when the other defenders are still higher. Also on the ball he's mediocre so it's not like he has that in his favour. Just yet another poor signing and a waste of money/wages.

He's the type of CB you'd see Millwall fans rave about.

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

17 M spent on this loser. And he will only get worse because refs know his **** antics now and will start carding him more. We probably spend another 17 M on defender next summer when everyone finally admits how bad he really is. And the circle will go on and on.

Should have just used 34 M and find a good defender last summer. We never learn.

 

[Mitch]

Majority of posters who posted in the our top performing 5 player last season mentioned Sokratis (rightly so too). However like last pre-season he seems to written off by by some due to one poor peformance in a friendly.

 

[yybecause]

Transfermarkt says none. Two yellow bans for all in all 3 games. WhoScored and the Premier League webpage say the same. No straight red cards at all, no red yellow, 12 yellows in 18/19.

I was sure I remembered one.
but great, nothing to worry there, yet people will

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

Once he does a great tackle on Kane or Pedro he'll be one of our best defenders again.

Which he is. And that's got more to do with the crap that we currently call our defenders.

 

[14Henry]

Sokratis may be our best defender.

But of the other 19 clubs in the league how many of them would he be their best defender?

Haven't even bothered counting but probably less than 7-8 teams.

That's only counting centre backs not full backs.

 

[Toby]

Sokratis may be our best defender.

But of the other 19 clubs in the league how many of them would he be their best defender?

Haven't even bothered counting but probably less than 7-8 teams.

That's only counting centre backs not full backs.

Far too harsh. At City they got Laporte and Stones but he would be their no 3 ahead of Otamendi and Mangala. Also think Kloppo would take him in a heartbeat next to Van Dijk to replace ****ing Joel Matip with Joe Gomez' last season's injury. He's better than anything United have currently. At Chelsea it would be tight between him, Rudiger and Christensen. He'd also surely be able to compete with Vertonghen and D. Sanchez at Sp**s for the spot next to Alderweireld.

VAR will destroy this clogger.

VAR doesn't exist. It's still the referees. But they will probably love to hand out cards to him, still.

 

[14Henry]

Far too harsh. At City they got Laporte and Stones but he would be their no 3 ahead of Otamendi and Mangala. Also think Kloppo would take him in a heartbeat next to Van Dijk to replace ****ing Joel Matip with Joe Gomez' last season's injury. He's better than anything United have currently. At Chelsea it would be tight between him, Rudiger and Christensen. He'd also surely be able to compete with Vertonghen and D. Sanchez at Sp**s for the spot next to Alderweireld.



VAR doesn't exist. It's still the referees. But they will probably love to hand out cards to him, still.

So what your basically saying is he would be 3rd choice centre half a city. Maybe 4th behind Otamendi.

At Liverool he would be behind Van Dijk and Gomez.

At Chelsea Rudiger and possibly Christiansen are better.

At Sp**s for sure Vertonghan and Alderwierld are better.

Leicester Maguire is better. Arguably Lewis Dunk fairs better. At West Ham Diop could possibly be considered as well. Still has abit to prove.

Fabian Schar of Newcastle is probably a better defender than Sokratis.

So as you can see my statement stands. He's no better than a mid table centre half.

 

[tap-in]

Considering he is our best CB, this guy really gets some stick. Ok, our CB's are our weakest link but he was head and shoulders above the others last season and probably will be this season too. His pace saved us many goals last season, he was half the price of Mustafi & Xhaka but more than twice as effective!

 

[14Henry]

Considering he is our best CB, this guy really gets some stick. Ok, our CB's are our weakest link but he was head and shoulders above the others last season and probably will be this season too. His pace saved us many goals last season, he was half the price of Mustafi & Xhaka but more than twice as effective!

Look he's ok but he isn't a top defender. I think people like him more because he's up for a fight and doesn't get pushed around but he's a yellow card waiting to happen every game and if he picks that up in the first 20 mins or so things get nervous.

The best defenders have composure and good judgement when to dive in and when not not.

I don't know the stats but I guarantee now Van Dijk and Laporte ( the 2 best defenders in the league imo) had a hell of a lot less cards than him.

Edit:
He had 12 yellows the joint highest. So many less regarded players had a lot less. Laporte only 3. Normal considering he las less defending to do but even defenders from relegation threatened teams have a lot less.

So it shows he's making mistakes. Poor positioning. Rash challenges. Poor judgement.

 

[Toby]

So what your basically saying is he would be 3rd choice centre half a city. Maybe 4th behind Otamendi.

At Liverool he would be behind Van Dijk and Gomez.

At Chelsea Rudiger and possibly Christiansen are better.

At Sp**s for sure Vertonghan and Alderwierld are better.

Leicester Maguire is better. Arguably Lewis Dunk fairs better. At West Ham Diop could possibly be considered as well. Still has abit to prove.

Fabian Schar of Newcastle is probably a better defender than Sokratis.

So as you can see my statement stands. He's no better than a mid table centre half.

Sokratis could even be a second choice at City if Guardiola wouldn't love to **** over ball playing CBs. Thinking Otamendi is better or might be better than Sokratis has to be a ****ing joke. Guy's a disaster.

I said he would replace Matip at Liverpool who was Van Dijk's partner. Gomez is a question mark. So probable starter there.

At Chelsea it would be tight, but not neccesarilly because of quality, but because Rudiger is very similar to Sokratis and Christansen is a different profile. And while I rate Rudiger, I doubt he's really better than Sokratis. So tight race if he'd theoretically actually be there.

Alderweireld is better, but Vertonghen imo not. The latter I think is a tad overrated.

Schär is definitely not better than Sokratis. Think you've never really seen him much. He didn't struggle at Hoffenheim, went through La Coruna and now plays for Newcastle for no reason.

Maguire is something you could argue, but I don't think Dunk is better. Diop has promise on his side but is surely not on Sokratis level.

In my book he's one of the Top 10 defenders in the league. Closer to 10 than 1, but still. He doesn't lift the team to another level, but honestly the only CB in the league that kind of did that was Van Dijk. And that impact was influenced by a slight tactical adaption by Klopp, too.

You act like he's another Mustafi which is laughable.

 

[14Henry]

Sokratis could even be a second choice at City if Guardiola wouldn't love to **** over ball playing CBs. Thinking Otamendi is better or might be better than Sokratis has to be a ****ing joke. Guy's a disaster.

I said he would replace Matip at Liverpool who was Van Dijk's partner. Gomez is a question mark. So probable starter there.

At Chelsea it would be tight, but not neccesarilly because of quality, but because Rudiger is very similar to Sokratis and Christansen is a different profile. And while I rate Rudiger, I doubt he's really better than Sokratis. So tight race if he'd theoretically actually be there.

Alderweireld is better, but Vertonghen imo not. The latter I think is a tad overrated.

Schär is definitely not better than Sokratis. Think you've never really seen him much. He didn't struggle at Hoffenheim, went through La Coruna and now plays for Newcastle for no reason.

Maguire is something you could argue, but I don't think Dunk is better. Diop has promise on his side but is surely not on Sokratis level.

In my book he's one of the Top 10 defenders in the league. Closer to 10 than 1, but still. He doesn't lift the team to another level, but honestly the only CB in the league that kind of did that was Van Dijk. And that impact was influenced by a slight tactical adaption by Klopp, too.

You act like he's another Mustafi which is laughable.

Have a look at what I posted above. He makes mistakes every game which because it looks physical or no nonsense he gets credit for.

 

[Toby]

Have a look at what I posted above. He makes every game which because it looks physical or no nonsense he gets credit for.

Have you seen the stats still? 12 is maybe a tad much, but he never got a straight red and only once two yellows.