He played well as part of a double pivot for two seasons - yes, I know you completely disagree - but he's been left exposed under Gerrard as a single pivot, as he's not a specialist DM and needs help.
The "narrative" comes from Gerrard himself: “Dougie has done OK for us. We’ve been happy with his training level and the performances that he has given. We believe there’s room for him to improve. He’s doing us a job as a No 6. We know that he prefers to play a bit more advanced but he has helped us out on the back of Nakamba’s injury. We rate him extremely highly.”