I think it's peoples incorrect preconceptions of M'Vila that lead them to be a little underwhelmed when first watching him.
You're expecting a tough tackling, ball winning, bull dog in the middle of the park. But in reality, he's not really like that at all. He does win the ball back quite often, but more often due to his great positioning and reading of the game, hence why you'll see his statistics regarding interceptions are rather impressive indeed. But most of M'Vila's best qualities are evident when he's in position of the ball. He's got a fantastic tempo to his passing, in that he gets it and releases it very quickly indeed. And most of the time, he picks out a player very well too. As others have said, he also has a great range of passing, and is capable of a 40-50 yard through ball to set a winger away at any given point. His mobility is one of his stand out qualities also, as he's very athletic and a quick enough player too.
So you sit down expecting to see a Mascherano type player, with all guns blazing, but instead you get a more clever and tactically astute midfielder, hence the comparisons to Alonso and Arteta.
