The midfield doesn't exist in a vacuum. Winning the 50/50s, collecting second balls, keeping possession, applying pressure on the ball and covering the spaces requires team work. It's not a job for just three people.
If your defenders can only look good in a low and narrow block, it's one problem. If your attackers become less and less effective the farther away from the opposition box they receive the ball, that's another issue. And if the space in between the defence and the attack is as vast as the Pacific, no midfielder's going to be the one who will fix it for you. This is exactly the reason why we end up creating roles for workhorses like McFred, Hannibal etc.
Here's an idea. Since the midfield is, as they say, the heart of the team, don't utilize it to "fix" anything. Instead, design it to support and sustain the type of football you want to implement. Then, judging by the individual quality of the players you have, fill in the other gaps.