Arcahaie fell 2-0 to Waterhouse in Caribbean Club Championship action. Arcahaie started strong but faltered as the match went on, eventually finishing with 10 men after a red card to Olnik Alesy. Arcahaie played in a 4-2-3-1 that turned into a 3-4-3 in possession.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Gerson Gabriel
- Nationality: Haitian
- Age: 19
- Date of Birth: 21/08/2002
- Current Club: Arcahaie
- Career: América, FICA
- Position: Right back
- Preferred Foot: Right
Gerson Gabriel played as a right back in this match. He played a very attacking role, bombing forward at every opportunity. Going forward he showed some very good skills. Gabriel is a skilled dribbler who was able to beat opponents with good footwork and quick changes of direction. His off-the-ball positioning was quite good, he was always stretching the Waterhouse backline by being well-positioned to receive passes.
His delivery on crosses was a little bit inconsistent but he still managed to put in a few that were quite dangerous. He was also quite willing to attempt an ambitious long-range shot. You don’t necessarily want players to shoot on sight every single time but I thought he didn’t shoot from range excessively and admired his attacking intent. One thing that undercut his attacking play, however, was his first touch. Once the ball was at his feet he showed a lot of good skill but you never could be sure he was going to bring the ball under control when it was played to him.
The other major problem with Gerson’s game is his defensive ability. He does not have much of it. Whether it was in physical battles, tracking runners, or defending 1v1, Gabriel did not look comfortable in situations where he had to defend. He put up very little resistance against Cardel Benbow on Waterhouse’s first goal. This was part of a general trend of defensive struggles for Gabriel. He has a very slight build, which doesn’t help matters, and I would not say he struck me as particularly fast either.
Rating: B2
Gerson Gabriel has some good attacking skills but his poor defending and lack of athleticism really undercut the positive elements of his game. He is only 19 so perhaps in a few years he will develop and this match report will make me look foolish. But I am not holding my breath.
Clifford Thomas
- Nationality: Haitian
- Age: 23
- Date of Birth: 9/08/1998
- Current Club: Arcahaie
- Position: Centre Midfielder
- Preferred Foot: Right
Clifford Thomas looked pretty solid in a box-to-box midfield role in this match. He closed the ball down very aggressively and won the ball back through his pressing on many occasions. He was able to win the ball back high up the field and unleash a couple of shots from the top of the box. He took all of Arcahaie’s corners and set pieces and his deliveries were usually quite dangerous. Some of Arahaie’s best chances were off of corners.
Thomas showed some good technical skills but he applied them a bit inconsistently. There were times when he looked very tidy on the ball, demonstrating some great passing and quick turns. Thomas has quite a lanky build and always looks a bit like he is about to fall over. But this sort of works in his favour because it helped to deceive opponents when he was dribbling. But there were also some slightly baffling giveaways and times where he got muscled off of the ball. He did a pretty good job of getting forward. He had shots both from outside the box and from making forward runs into the box. He played a couple of nice through balls into the box and did a good job of distributing the ball from deeper areas to open teammates in more dangerous positions. But, again, the drawback with Thomas is consistency.
He can do pretty much everything you want from a box-to-box midfielder but, within this specific match at least, he can’t do those things reliably. He pulls off tackles, passes, and dribbles more often than not but he’s always liable to totally misplace a pass or just get easily shrugged off the ball.
Rating: B1
I think Thomas would not look out of place in CPL or USL but his consistency would probably prevent him from being a star player in either of those leagues. He’s 23 so he is not all that likely to improve significantly.