What we needed was an out-and-out defensive midfielder to play alongside Brown. He was at his most effective last year when he had Muscat next to him and he new he could just bomb forward at every opportunity; at the moment we have two central midfielders, who both just sit in the middle because they don't want to expose one another defensively.
While I dont necessarily agree we need to tranfer a DM I think you have about hit it on the head
As I said in the Ward thread, if we play 3-4-3 when North arrives then we can move Manny into DM alongside Browny. Voila!
All 3-4-3 fans should read this, and think about how it describes exactly how the All Whites played in South Africa.
https://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/08/09/three-man-defence-three-man-attack/