Bit reactionary this.
It shows how important movement is in Wenger's system. If the opposition defence is disciplined and pressures the pivots then this causes more pressure on the team. Everyone needs to move and provide passing options, if the team looks tired, the system starts to fall apart as the passing options reduce.. the pressure increases on the defence. Guardiola operates a similar system (possession based and changes of tempo), yet he enforces rigorous defensive instructions when the side loses the ball. If you look at the team when they lose the ball, if the AMs take their time running back, it makes the pressure from the striker redundant as the defence has an easy passing outlet. It makes the CMs unable to close with their man as the 'free' opposition wingbacks need to be marshalled. The whole team becomes much more easy to play through, which is something Mourinho appreciated by forcing his midfield trio to work very hard.
I do like Wenger, but his idealism at times gets in the way of practicalities. I'd much prefer it if the team kept on working hard, and the problem with the recent pressure on Ozil (his poor performance and his Berbatov like workrate) means that the rest of the team slowly feels "Well, if he isn't closing down, why should I do it?". You can say a lot about Mourinho and Mata, and the Chelsea thread has covered this, but when you start making exceptions and protecting single players and their individual style, it doesn't help the team ethos.
Ramsey helped cover this, because of his incredible workrate and his goal-scoring in tight games. He forced the opposition to track him, and his technique means he could pass, create, and also tackle well enough to cover a lot of breaks. Arteta is much more limited and looks exposed this season, however blaming Arteta isn't entirely accurate since he's being forced to do more thanks to those ahead of him. Flamini's sending off has been extremely costly to us, but considering Ozil was never going to be the final piece of the jigsaw, I'd prefer getting a firm list of new players for the summer and bringing them in early to properly integrate them.
I'm not confident regarding Bayern or the Liverpool FA cup tie, so we need to focus on a strong finish to the league. If other teams keep making mistakes then we might surprise ourselves, but drawing a blank against such defensively shaky sides as Liverpool and United shows that whilst the system works, the players do not appear to be putting in enough effort to force those openings.
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