He's just an outlet for when we recover the ball, Tiote->Gutierrez, then Barton/Caroll/Nolan all get forward as he won't lose the ball, he passes it back to one of those 3 and we create chances, he fulfills a role for the team at the moment and unless replaced by someone who can retain the ball as well as he can, we'd miss him immensely (Ben Arfa is perfect when he returns).