Yup. Part of what makes players excellent is the system too, giving otherwise good/above average players roles they can understand and flourish in.
It's why I hated the 3-4-3 under Arteta, or that wierd split 3 man midfield he played against Leicester. I'm sure in his head these were great ideas, there's probably good logic behind it, but ultimately you're either asking too much of players or taking away from their strengths.
It's why I'd rather we persist in the 4-2-3-1. Every role is well defined, there's little grey area. The 10/CAM role is clearly one ESR understands and is very good at. He's able to stay higher up the pitch, push higher up the pitch and his defensive responsibility is limited, he doesn't have to worry about how far up the pitch the full back is on his side.
The 4-3-3 on the other hand requires more nuance, Wenger tried it with Ramsey and Jack as the 8s and it was horrible. Arteta tried it just after lockdown too for a couple of games and it was also trash. It can still work if like Liverpool you give 1 player freedom to go forward and tell the other two to stay back, but doing it the way City used to feels like suicide.
