Bird, and Hourihane to a degree, both have too much quality for this league. Both are capable of brilliance in their own ways. But you're right, they are so easy to get at, as well as too easy to have runners going past them when we're being countered.
But then we don't concede many goals. I think we can cope against anyone outside the top 8 with those 2 in there, but against the other 7, we do get properly overrun in midfield- and concede a disproportionate amount of goals.