I can see your argument, and I definitely see Wilshere's future as a playmaker behind the strikers, in Cesc's role. But personally I always figured that it was Fat Frank ruining the two-man midfield partnership of Gerrard and Fat Frank. It was Lampard's lack of intelligence and sense of defensive responsibility (of which he has none). But I've seen Gerrard adopt a purely defensive role when his team has been under the cosh. A good example would be the CL final, he moved on to the right wing midway through injury time (when most players would be dead on their feet) to take care of Milan's fresh left wing sub, Serginho... he pretty much played at right back for the remainder of the match and was immense!
A good example of Fat Franks retardedness would be when England played Japan under Sven and lost. We played the diamond formation, Beckham on the right (of course) Gerrard left (where he's more than capable of playing), Scholes behind the strikers (our only player since Jack that has the ability to play there) and of all players, Fat Frank holding the midfield! Fat Frank spent most of the game running past Scholes into the box, leaving Scholes to defend
I'm sure if Gerrard started in a deeper position with an intelligent midfielder like Jack, he would do fine. Gerrard's role as all-out maralding creater/defender/attacker/do everything you bloody can, comes from his role in the Liverpool team. He's the biggest "go to"guy there is in football. As far as the interchanging positions go, as long as one CM stayed back, the midfield would just change form a 2-1 to a 1-2, it wouldn't get too complicated.