I still think what this team misses is someone who can control the tempo of a game from deep midfield. Schneiderlin has shown signs of it but ideally you want a true class creative mid in there with him like a Modric/Xavi/Pirlo type. Obviously these are the hardest players in the world to find and aside from an ageing Carrick and a benched Fabregas none of the top 6 have one either with all preferring to shore up CM with sitting players and look to create further up the pitch with number 10s or play on the counter attack.
It's no coincidence to me though that Fergies United dominated the league playing Scholes and then Carrick. Real Madrid have started winning it all after pairing Modric with Kroos. Barca have dropped off as soon as Xavi left. Ancelotti has brought Alonso back in for Bayern. Juventus came back to prominence on the back of Pirlo the same way Milan have fallen since (he even made Pogba look like a 90 mill player).
If you can find one of these players they're worth putting everything on it. I'm hoping against hope Liam Walsh may turn out to be this player, a blue Scholes if you will. Someone like Verrati would be the dream but is out of our reach currently. There must be a young player out there though who hasn't been picked up by a CL team. Without one of these, unless you have some of the best forward players in the world, you won't win much unless you base your entire game on playing counter attack.
Leandro Paredes could be the type of player you're wanting whom we were linked with in January.