Arteta, despite his good positioning and reading of the game, can no longer do what Coquelin does, and got nailed for pace a few times protecting the defence during the last period he was fully fit.
Coquelin's reputation has definitely been puffed up a bit by his importance - just as the goalkeepers of the league's worst sides tend to attract praise. That said if the structure's wrong, a player lifting individually and making a ton of decisive intercepts (or saves) is evidence of his quality, not its lack.
We're not hurt by proposing specialists in midfield: we've looked better in recent years with a good player sitting in front of the defence than not. This includes Arteta himself. It's just there shouldn't be an overemphasis on the "destroyer" element when choosing that player. I don't really see that with Coquelin.
