One of the myths this would appear to put to bed is that Pep and Arteta don’t want their 6s to take opponents on.

Clearly, they do. Those are not just passive ball recyclers.

The difference is that Thomas does it both even more frequently and even more successfully than Rodri.

That a similar relationship exists between KdB and Ødegaard might suggest that this is something Arteta wants, generally from his midfielders: both that he wants them to do more often, and that he wants them to be better at.