I disagree. Probably the most impressive thing about Anderson the central midfielder, since his debut season at United, has been his ability to compete with and at times nullify the opposition's midfield stars. In his first season he did a good job on Fabregas who barely got a kick, and Anderson set up a goal by beating Fabregas to a header. And also against Liverpool a similar story with Gerrard. However, keeping midfield starts occupied so they dont hurt us in the final third is not the same thing as controlling midfield, which as you say was our problem against Villa even though they had young inexperienced players in there.
I can count on one hand the amount of times Anderson's passing has meant we controlled the midfield. Right now he's nowhere near that kind of player. Right now, like Fletcher and Carrick, Anderson is the kind of central midfielder who you'd put next to your star midfielder who can control the match. And next to such a player he can offer good things and play well. But if we just put any 2 of those 3 together, it leaves a lot to be desired.