you made no sense there emp - if all we have is a bunch of defensive players then there is no excuse for them to defend badly! the problem is a lack of cohesion and teamwork - nothing to do with alonso so forget him, he's gone and anyway for two thirds of his time with us he was crap anyway
i do agree we have been weaker in midfield this season without him but that's because rafa is too stubborn to realise that we need to play either mash or lucas not both - we don't need two holding midfielders, we got away with it when alonso was playing because he had such a great season last term ...... its not like we are throwing men galore into the box to need the extra holding midfielder is it?