You are missing the point. They were always going to play on the counter attack. If Arsenal had been afforded that much space then I'm sure Ozil, Ramsey and Mikihtaryan could have been a lot more influential.
If Arsenal had put 9 behind the ball then I imagine you'd have seen less of a 'great' performance from their two strikers.
I am not sure I would be so limited as to simply describe their performance last night as being based on counter attacks.
Sure they had a few late in the game as we pushed on for the goal we needed and invariably left space and perhaps lesser numbers at the back, a natural part of any game of football of course where one team is pushing on.
Rest of the time I thought they played a very controlled game. Their defenders defended, their midfield covered their defence and when needed passed the ball around and their forwards provided an outlet. All very commendable really.
If you are confident in your ability to defend and bide your time in full knowledge that at some point the opposition will make a mistake in defence then that is fine.
You simply don’t really understand the game and make a naïve straight line connection between ball possession and quality, or superiority or whatever.
On the contrary, I think that Simeone's tactics are to apply attacking pressure in waves. I.e. become reserved for a period, inviting pressure on, safe in the knowledge that their organisation is so good that it very difficult for their opponents to attack. Then, at various intervals (whether these are pre-defined, decided by the natural ebb & flow of the game, decided by the captain etc) the defence, midfield and attack will move 20-30 yards further up the pitch. This seemed to disrupt Arsenal's attacking intent and I'm sure provided some respite from the mentally draining task of defending a constant territorial disadvantage.