Some of Wenger's teams certainly over-relied on those kinds of goals, and didn't have any bread-and-butter way of putting the ball in the net. Giroud changed that to some extent, especially when Ozil was on fire, but again that's more based on the individuals than the system. That was Wenger's way, and it worked quite well for a long time. There really aren't any top teams in modern football that eschew more mechanical scoring methods these days, though.
If the more structured, hard-running type of attacking is working well enough, and the players don't really have to think about it that much, then those individual flourishes will come every now and then as a side effect, a bonus, or even a Plan B if the opposition is too resilient. When the underlying foundation isn't functioning, then you end up with this thing everyone calls "rigid" play.
Either way, you need a midfield that can support the attack and the defense. The interior of the team has to be rock solid, whether things are working or not. Without that, just about anything can fall apart, whether it's jazz or heavy metal.
Even with ESR, our interior is on the edge of effectiveness at any given moment. He'll have a tired game, or a youthful inconsistency, and we'll look shite again.
