who do you think would fit the role best and/or be the least embarrassing at the position. Feilhaber is a fine center midfielder, and he needs to stay in his bloody home to stay useful. We tried against Sweden, Switzerland, and South Africa, that junk just does....not....work. Why not the other guy whos upended him as of late in the central mid position; Maurice Edu?? Guys quick, puts in a clever pass, has good ball control, not afraid to roll up his sleeves on the defensive side of the ball. His skillset just fits better if we are going to use a center mid at right id. We could use Klejstan too he is at least.....passable. He's no worse than steve ralston, maybe a shade of an upgrade. Point being, Feilhaber is a class center mid, but im not sure if he is even a passable right mid at the MLS level, so why do we keep playing him there? I know if Demspey and Donovan are both there its one or the other, but this depth stuff is biting us in the arse right now. Hopefully come next year this will be a Holden-Rogers debate instead.
We don't yet know if Maurice Edu can cross a ball. Benny Feilhaber lacks the workrate to play on the outside, and he was completely ineffective when placed out right against Sweden & Switzerland. Sascha Kljestan is, as you mentioned, passable, but nothing else at the position. Danny Szetela looked good in very limited minutes against Switzerland at RM, and obviosuly whipped in the cross that led to the goal, but the jury is still out. Behind Donovan or Dempsey, I'd like to see Justin Mapp step up and establish himself at the position. He's an erratic crosser with his left foot anyway, so it's not like you're wasting a strong left foot by moving him to the right. Mapp has pace, trickery and dribbling ability, but needs to improve his commitment, workrate, tactical awareness and defense. Robbie Rogers is basically a two-footed player and could eventually develop into the guy at RM. Stuart Holden has a chance as well, though Rogers is younger (more upside?)
I think this post about sums up our best current options and possible future options. I do also think the DMB and/or Convey might possibly get a run on the right side if Bob wants LD in the middle or up front, and nobody else has distinguished themselves. However, I'm not nearly concerned about right mid (as I think we have adequate coverage) as I am about the right and left backs.
I don't even know why there is the debate when guys like Rogers and Holden could step in now and fill the position.
If the question remains "which CM's would be the best option to play right mid", as opposed to "which younger players can be brought in to play right mid", then I would suggest ==> Ricardo Clark. Definitely not Bradley, Edu, Feilhaber, or Mastro. Clark has decent speed and work rate, and he has a nice longer-distance shot, which would be useful from right mid and might indicate that he could become a decent crosser. But overall, the US should be fine at right mid between the big two (Donovan and Dempsey) backed up by the development of a younger guy like Rogers or White or an emergency fill-in like Noonan. I'd kind of like to keep the 4 young central mids together, gaining caps, battling each other for the starting roles and providing quality depth these next couple of years.
indeed....and thats what it is right now emergency fill in. I was going to mention Rico as an option, i dont question his defensive work rate or his work rate in general, just his ability to get up the field with a quickness and put in a cross. Edu is appealing to me (if you can call it that) in this role on the premise hes good on D, he is very quick, and he can pass well. As opposed to Feilhaber who is not quick, and not good on D, and Mr John Spector made him aware of the fact against South Africa. That epidemic was enough to make a defender cringe on how much he was hung out to dry. Spector really had an outstanding game that game picking up Feilhaber's slack and his performance went grossly underrated. At any rate.....you see my point here. Only reason this topic is created is because when we dont have donovan and/or dempsey we are left with a quandry as a result at right mid, at least right now, and it shows right now. and BB has displayed in the past that he would prefer to roll out a center mid wide instead of a strict outside guy like holden or rogers, and going with BB's train of thought, just which center mid would fit the role best. I like the Ricardo suggestion too, he'd certainly do it better than Feilhaber.