Crazy suggestion with regards to North, but has he ever played higher up the park, say RM? He's gone up there several times in recent games getting Siggy or whoever to cover him and tried to make things happen in and around the box. Almost seemed to have more of a clue than some of the current mids.
Did he ever get a cross pass the first defender?
North is a CB and at a stretch RB, nothing else (though I think he played striker when he was young with dreadlocks)