Surely yesterday proved we can't do that, mate?
He's not got the skillset to control a game. He's good at quick interchanges in and around the area and getting on the end of things or creating in that final third.
He is not a playmaker in the natural sense. That needs to be done deeper. He doesn't have a 'range of passing' as such. He isn't going to ping a 40-yard defence-splitting pass or drive us forward.
He can pick a great quick pass short range, or use his quick feet to create a yard for a shot.
We need a player to get the ball into him and then if he's not cutting it, we have the numbers in that role to drop him.
Gomes will hopefully be that player, because none of our other midfielders are, that's for sure.
At last someone grasps the sort of player he is.
He can't play in midfield 2 or wide in 3.
The only role he can play is no.10 and I question if he has the creativity to play that role in the way in which say Beardsley played it.
His delivery from dead balls was supposed to be excellent but he hasn't produced anything of that quality in the time time with us.
So yes he can play no.10 but is he really good enough?
He isn't our biggest problem but definately not the answer either.
Ask yourself this how much would we get on the ( inflated ) market for him now? I suspect his value will have dropped considerably and we would do well to get £25 mill