Arsenal defender, Sokratis Papastathopoulos has said defenders are not robots.
The Greek centre back has been tagged not good enough for the Arsenal backline but he has come out to say that he will surely come good as soon as the team is confident again.
According to him, playing out from the back has changed a lot of things because it means more risks will be taken in defence.
He added that being a defender is hard because every mistake is a costly one.
His words, “Football has changed a lot in the past 10 or 12 years. When I started football, I was in Italy. I was in Greece first, but afterwards I made the step to Italy.
“It was not so necessary to play out from the back and because of this, you also didn’t concede a lot of chances or a lot of goals.
“Now, every team, or most, has to start from the back and exchange a lot of passes to arrive in the opposite area and to score. The more passes and more things you do, you also have more risk inside. For this, it’s more beautiful football, but also the teams concede more goals because the players are not robots. Everybody makes mistakes.
“That’s why being a defender these days is very difficult. I think it is one of the most difficult positions. Maybe you don’t have to run like a midfielder, but every mistake that you do is a very hard mistake for the team, so you pay very expensively.
“But I still love being a defender. And for me, the part I enjoy most is when you can defend well like a team, to control the game, to fight for every ball and every duel.
“Every day is the one you have to show to everybody that you have a strong mentality and also your qualities in the game and mentality, especially to win. We have had some difficult moments this season and we know we need to improve, but we have the quality to do it. We just need the confidence.”
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