one problem about switching flanks constantly or inter-changing positions is the tenancy to forget the very basic of football, that's positional sense.
with good positional sense, even when being caught out in counter attack, so long as you don't play high up in the field, you are still in a position to break down the attack.
but without a defensive midfielder to shield the back four this season, full backs who went up to support the attack are caught out of position constantly with old sch flying wingers, no matter how pacy the fullbacks are if the winger is also pacy and is in a better attacking position, the risk of getting caught out is very high.
sometimes the center backs also get caught out in position when they push up to take a long shot.
i think without a defensive midfielder this season and in order to counter this problem, arsenal has been playing higher up the field when they are chasing a game in the 2nd half.
and in certain games, they get caught out with the counter attack sucker punch...results in points being drop.
the fullbacks are good in their one on one challenges but the center backs seems slower to react this season at point blank range.
marking wise, AW prefers zonal marking so as to promote more attacking intent in his team so man marking during set pieces have suffer as a result of this attack-orientated system.
the center backs seems to lose their touch with man marking as well...
but what i like about them is that they remain the only team capable of beating man u while playing the same style of football.