So, Carrick, Busquets and Modric, izzat it? No problem, mate, let's take a gander at Squawka....
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Now, before we analyze this, do note that successful take-ons per game and the percentage of take-ons that are successful are absolutely not attributes a standard DLP possesses: those are the attributes I used to assert that Bentaleb was a B2B midfielder, not a DLP. So I can't see why you would compare Carrick's stats in that regard to Bentaleb's, and then harrumph about how it (to an extent) disproves my assertion: I made it very clear that I consider the first five or so attributes above critical for a deep-lying playmaker to possess, not the last two.
Anyway, on to the numbers. Firstly, we can absolutely see the variation in styles employed by the teams these players play for: that is evidenced by the seemingly disparate stats that show Busquets having the second-lowest chance creation percentage and lowest average pass length, for example (he passed it to Rakitic/Xavi/Iniesta ahead of him and let them do the work, and often from a position relatively close to them). Yet, despite this fact, we can see that Bentaleb has the second-lowest average pass length, despite playing in a team that relies on quick, direct balls to the forwards to start attacks: and the lowest number of total forward passes played, despite (as per your assertion) ostensibly being the 'playmaker' of the team. He also has the lowest number of successful passes played per game, despite playing shorter passes on average than all these midfielders bar Busquets. His chance creation rates are in the middle of the pack (although doubled by Modric and roughly quadrupled by Pirlo), and his key pass rate, likewise.
Carrick's passes are 20 metre boomers, and he plays more of them than Bentaleb does per game. As does Busquets, although he plays shorter passes. However, Bentaleb doesn't play long passes, he plays comparatively fewer forward passes, he has comparatively fewer successful passes to his name: what he does do is create chances at a decent rate and play 'key' passes (often leading to a goal or a chance) at an average rate, while dribbling past players more than anyone on this list except Luka, and doing it successfully at a rate that even Luka can't match.
What do those facts suggest to you? In a team reliant on quick balls to the forwards, ferocious pressing and vertical attacks up the pitch, Bentaleb instead chooses to play short passes, often backwards or sideways, while instead dribbling with the ball at a relatively higher rate and still creating chances from that playstyle. His partner, however (Mason): I'd reckon that Mason would easily stack up to these players you have selected in most of these categories. So, in the Mason-Bentaleb pairing: who is the playmaker, and who is the sitter who was restricted in a DM role? And who looks like he could do a lot more damage dribbling from the back as opposed to trying to pass it forward as DLPs do?
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Come on, mate, surely this must be obvious to you by now.
Those stats provide evidence for the assertion that Bentaleb wasn't being used as a deep-lying playmaker last season: on average, his pass length was the shortest out of all the players mentioned there, which indicates that he sat quite deep but only passed it forward a minimal distance. Similarly, on average, he completed the fewest forward passes of any of those players (Save for McCarthy), made the fewest key passes (again, save for McCarthy) and created the fewest chances (ditto). That isn't 'dictating play', not by any appreciable measure.
