2023 Player Previews - Gabby Carle
The Canadian international offers the Spirit two-way impact at left back
When Michele Kang hired Mark Krikorian as the Spirit’s new President of Soccer Operations last June, it was somewhat expected that more of his former Florida State players would join Tori Huster on Washington’s active roster come this offseason.
Four days after Huster returned to the Spirit on a one year contract after exploring free agency for the first time, a two-time national champion with FSU followed in 24 year old Gabrielle “Gabby” Carle. Although she can play anywhere on the lefthand side, Carle looks likely to slot in at left back for the Spirit.
One note - because fbref.com does not offer stats from the NCAA or the Swedish Damallsvenskan, I am going off what I am able to piece together, as well as highlight videos from her senior season at FSU and her season in Sweden. It isn’t scouting tape, so while I am going to do my best, it is worth noting that there’s some bias built in there.
Strengths
A technically-gifted fullback, Carle is a player who likes to make attacking runs off the ball. This includes the expected runs overlapping with the winger ahead of her as well as late-arriving runs into the box hoping to get on the end of a cutback or loose ball.
She is also a threat to shoot from outside the box, and will find herself in positions to do so as she likes to drift into the inside left channel when the space is available.
Carle is a confident attacker on the ball and likes to use her quick feet and creativity to attempt to dribble past opposition defenders and get into the final third or down to the byline.
Not only a skilled dribbler, Carle is very adept at using her body to shield the ball. She does thing both on offense to keep the ball and turn past defenders, and on defense when she can separate an attacker from the ball they’ve let stray too far from their foot.
Even with all that energy and focus spent in the attacking third, Carle can defend her position and is adept in one-on-one situations against an opposition winger, winning 65% of her 268 duels last season in Sweden.
Things to keep an eye on
As established above, Carle is a player who loves to get into the final third and contribute to her team’s attacking efforts, even playing some as a right sided midfielder/attacker in the Damallsvenskan.
As she embarks on her second professional season in the most competitive league she has played in to date, Carle is going to need to make sure she is smart in picking her spots to attack. It’s hard for me to tell how her decision-making is currently from a couple of highlights packages, but Carle will need to pick her spots to go forward from left back carefully with the Spirit.
If she is making those energetic overlapping runs or drifting inside, it is vital she avoid leaving too much space behind her for the opposition to counter-attack in the case of a sudden turnover. This can be done by rushing forward only when she knows a holding midfielder is covering the space behind her, or by learning to sense when the Spirit are safe enough in possession for her to make herself available as an option.
As a player who loves as well to take players on with the ball at her feet, Carle will need to be careful not to take unnecessary risks when there is no one covering behind her. Even from a glowing highlights package, it’s clear that against lesser competition Carle would take risks against lesser players from inside her own half and when breaking out of the defensive line.
Against top competition in the NWSL, this could lead to humbling mistakes if done wrong. She is a very talented offensive player and I want her to bring those exciting elements to Audi Field, but she will need to find a balance.
How it could look
Carle has the potential to add a very exciting element to how the Spirit play this season. As I wrote in a look ahead at how Washington might play under Mark Parsons, Carle first and foremost will provide width down the lefthand side that will keep opposing defenses honest when Tara McKeown or another left-sided attacker makes runs inside with or without the ball.
Additionally however, Carle gives Parsons some interesting tactical options in terms of how to find a balance between attack and defense. As laid out in Spacing and the Spirit’s introductory post, a big focus of mine in analyzing tactics is identifying the primary attacking and defending groups of five.
In a lot of 4-3-3s like the one I believe Parsons will use often, the primary defending five is made up of the back four and a holding “six” midfielder. The attacking five, therefore, is made up of the two more advanced midfielders and the front three attackers. This is done often because it works, but finding a way to do something else successfully can do a lot more to cause the opposition problems.
That is why I am intrigued and hopeful that Parsons may use Carle’s two-way game to stray from the norm. Specifically, what I hope he might try is to make an attacking five of the front three, Ashley Sanchez on the right behind Trinity Rodman, and Carle on the left surging forward and often doing some pressing/defending a little further forward. This leaves the two remaining midfielders, the two center backs, and the right back as the defending three.
This is only a possibility because of Carle’s work rate. She is still going to get back and defend behind the ball, but the primary five defenders will be responsible for ensuring the Spirit are not caught out on the counter attack.
Why do this? Because effective systems identify and select attacking and defending groups of five. Great systems find a way to engineer groups of more than five attackers or defenders out of just ten players. Tasking Carle with making the left side her own has the potential to do this for the Spirit, and is why I believe Carle’s is a really exciting signing ahead of the 2023 season.
Thanks for reading Spacing and the Spirit’s first 2023 Player Preview. Next up is a preview of the Spirit’s other 2023 addition and FSU alumnus, Inès Jaurena, before we move on to previews of returning starters.
Comments are welcome, and please share if you enjoyed reading!
Thanks again!
Mike