Vucinic/Pepe - Matri - Jovetic would be a dream, can't understand how people think we'd fall out defensively. You shouldn't forget we have two hardworkers and one holding player in the mid, when most top teams have just one natural defensive midfielder and, in some cases, one hardworker too. From that offensive trio, the only one I could moan about defensively is Vucinic, because any of the other can work perfectly in our deffensive phase (yes, even Matri, you can notice that this season). And don't say Jojo couldn't help more than Robben or Muller defensively ffs, that's not even close from a true statement.
Jovetic would be just too good to be true. It's not just that he's great deffensively for an attacker, but he's also the magic provider and regular game changer we still need upfront. You know, the reason we keep struglling against the Cesenas of calcio. We have poor decision makers upfront and the lack of a mind there is the reason we shot and play so much without purpose in front of the goal (against the small sides). Pirlo is the only one who can provide purpose to our game in a regular basis, but he's too deep on the pitch. The other player who can do that is Vucinic, but he has like a genius build up from month to month.
And by the way, "Pepe covers for Licht" is the myth of the season. He just cuts inside and allows Licht to overlap him, but you can often watch that Barza is the one who covers the lack of Licht on the flank (and ideally, Pirlo would cover Barza but he doesn't and we have a weak point right there). At most, it would be Vidal the one covering Licht, and Pepe taking Vidal's place until Licht could recover his position.