If I asked you which the most important cog in the Real Madrid wheel was, what would you answer?

Iker, the impenetrable wall? Cristiano, the superhuman superstar? Ozil, the silky smooth playmaker?

Chances are, you probably didn't say Xabi Alonso.

Yet, without Xabi, Real Madrid regularly turns into the Bolton Wanderers. And after receiving his 5th yellow card against Atletico, Alonso will sit out a crucial visit to El Molinon to take on Preciado's Sporting Gijon.

Some of the statistics surrounding the Basque kingpin's absence from the team are frightening. Firstly, Xabi Alonso is the outfield player who has played the most minutes for us, which should say something in itself. Not Ronaldo, not Benzema, but Xabi. Secondly, Alonso has participated in more plays than any other player in the league, and made more good passes than any other player bar Xavi. What's more, he also receives the most fouls on the team, after Cristiano.

But here's where it gets scary. When Xabi isn't on the team, our loss rate triples. The team has lost/drawn 57% of the games the midfielder didn't play. Last season, Alonso picked up his 5th yellow once again to miss the Sporting game and be ready for Barcelona, in which the Whites crashed to a 1-0 defeat at home, Mourinho's first home defeat in 7 or 8 years.

Then he missed the game against Zaragoza later in the league, and once again we lost at home, this time 2-3. Guess which other games Alonso has missed? The game where we were knocked out of the CL against Lyon, and the 4-0 drubbing we took from little Alcorcon.

Why this Xabidependencia? My theory has been that when he doesn't play, we always lack someone who can sit deep and ping passes around to get play flowing. We used to have that in Guti who could play that role, or even Beckham; but up until now the only alternative has been the technically limited Granero.

The only player we have at the moment who can even compare to Xabi, is Nuri Sahin. For a 22 year old who has just made the leap to Spain and is coming back from 6 months on the treatment table, El Molinon promises to be a real trial by fire.

The suave, Xabi-esque player that holds midfield together has been one of the keys to the success of this Mou-team, because that's where all the ammunition comes from. Playing a midfield of Coentrao-Khedira, or Khedira-Lass; without that flair player in the middle could mean risking a stop-start team, our attackers getting suffocated in attack, and us ultimately losing the 6 point lead we have over Barcelona before the Clasico.

Then again, could it be too soon to throw Nuri in there? He's only played 90 minutes one time, and although he wasn't the best, there were definitely small flashes of the Bundesliga player of the year. Besides, it's in Gijon, a ground that is hostile as it gets. A bad outing for Nuri here could wreck his confidence, or worse; a wayward tackle in such a high tension game could put him right back in the infirmary with all the cute nurses.

Still, I think it's a chance worth taking, because I believe in Sahin. What do you think?