It’s been a theme for much longer than that.
When McT and Fred are on top of their game we’ve had some excellent team performances, providing the opposition are naive or cocky enough to come at us and leave room for the counter.
In matches where we should be expected to dominate and control midfield almost all our best performances post-Fergie have featured Matic playing like he did today. We just don’t have another midfielder who can pull the strings like he did against Everton. I always hoped Pogba could be that player but, well, that’s never going to happen, is it?
If we switch to a single pivot, it will change lots of dynamics. If roles change, performances might change. If we have two 8 working more for the offensive game, it might not be needed to have a midfielder "that can pull the strings" as long as the 8s are doing a good job. Plus: Remember who will play at Centerback for us.
I thought, Fred did the single pivot job pretty fine today. Better than I would have expected and he showed some shielding techniques I hadn't seen him use. I know, he isn't known to be a DM but he might fit the new role description unexpectedly well.
I can understand, that Matic is well liked and I agree, he might be useful for us but he is the past - just like Mata. Giving them gametime, in my eyes just takes minutes from other players either getting more used to a role or young players we would love to see their actual potential (like Garner). I know, Matic is currently well above them in a lot of relevant aspects but for me, playing him is pointless - he can be alright, today I thought he was fine but I would struggle to give him more than a 6.5 out of ten. That is good, no question but is it good enough that we delay working on the future in this part of the team?