Pacific FC will welcome Forge to Starlight Stadium this weekend, looking to get one over their rivals in this early season clash.
Forge arrive on the island still searching for the first win of the season, having drawn with Cavalry in the opening game and subsequently grabbing a very late equaliser against Halifax Wanderers last weekend.
Pacific FC are coming off two consecutive draws with Cavalry, each ending 1-1 at full time, although Pacific did progress on penalties in the Canadian Championship.
In his press conference this morning, James Merriam confirmed that Manny Aparicio and Thomas Meilleur-Giguère are both back fit and could feature, while he still awaits the return of Pierre Lamothe who is day-to-day with his recovery from injury.
Questions immediately turned to the status of Kekuta Manneh, with excitement building for his first start of the season after his debut in the 68th minute last weekend.
“He came in and did really well, he’s an experienced professional, he’s putting in extra work and feels good…we take it day by day and week by week, but he has been great with the group on and off the field…he did well with the minutes when he came in.”
Merriman was a little tight lipped in terms of giving away any starting line-up news for the weekend, as you may expect, but it appears as though Manneh is on the right track to earn that first start soon enough.
Pacific want to dictate their home matches and instill fear in opponents who play at Starlight Stadium. A lot of that comes down to winning the game in the midfield. Merriman is delighted with the start his players have made in the middle of the park, with Cedric Toussaint and Sean Young performing at incredibly high levels winning their battles and progressing the ball so well.
I asked James about this: “The midfield battle will often win you games and I have been challenging Sean Young with that for the last few seasons…Young is in fine form right now which is exciting because it’s so early in the season and Cedric as well. Cedric has been excellent over three games as the six in our system…Steffen Yeates as well, we have been really happy with what he has been able to do.”
In goal, young Emil Gazdov was unfortunate to be at fault for the own goal last weekend, but this was one blemish on an otherwise great start to the season. His confidence, and the team and coaches’ confidence in him is clear to see.
“He’s had a great start, the way he composed himself in the penalties to make the save, the way he carried himself in the first match against Vancouver, and how he responded to the goal against Cavalry, I’m sure he’d like to have it back…he put his hand up straight away at the end of the game and said that’s on me, we supported him and had his back and that’s what it’s about. Like I said before, he’s got a big inner belief and self-confidence and he works and he’s pushing, he’s got great potential.”
With an almost fully fit squad, the only headache Merriman has is the depth at his disposal. A fantastic headache for any coach in football. The flexibility his players have shown buying into the system and performing in different roles has been great to see:
“Its speaks to them and their intelligence and ability to be adaptable. I like to put players into different positions and challenge them… With Sean (Young) I put him there at centre back with a smile, saying tomorrow you gotta do a job there because we don’t have Thommy (Thomas Meilleur-Giguère) it’s a part of our philosophy as well to develop players and move them into different positions as it’s a good challenge for them, especially our young players”
Matches against Forge are never easy, but Pacific can go into this one with a certain confidence from how they have started the season. More needs to be done in the final third to create clear goal scoring chances, but Merriman is confident things are beginning to click in that part of the pitch.
(Image Credit: Pacific FC)