The Odyssey continues: Erik Palmer-Brown at Panathinaikos

Discussion in 'Yanks Abroad' started by BostonRed, Jan 24, 2014.

  1. bsky22

    bsky22 Member+

    Dec 8, 2003
    I’m for excited to watch EPB’s progress. I thought did well in his first outing and should get more chances.

    As for the play I referenced, I thought he was slow closing down the wide attacker and the type of play I have seen often in MLS... and nobody cares. He’ll need to do a better job or his minutes will decrease and/or he’ll be criticized. People go on and on about the quality of the league, but I still don’t think it is good preparation for playing in a league such as Belgium, even if it’s overall quality is lower. I didn’t imply anything about rustiness, but it is a shame the way MLS is structured such that some teams stop playing over a month before others.

    You can justify SKC’s decisions all you want, but EPB’s development in 2017 is well beneath what it could have been. That is all I care about.
     
  2. mschofield

    mschofield Member+

    May 16, 2000
    Berlin
    Club:
    Union Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Go back through their season and they've moved from a 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-2-1. A constant for Kort's setup was the four man backline.
    I think it's significant that they trotted out a 3 man back, against a top club, in EPB's first start.
    They clearly saw something in him that gave them the confidence to go with a system that is quite different from what they've been doing. It's interesting because EPB has never played in a back three before (this is a valid critique of his SKC time, Vermes believes in his system and doesn't budge).
    It's also interesting because neither had anyone at Kort this season, and that to do so they played LePoint as EPB's opposite, when LePoint had been primarily a late game attacking sub for them this season.
    It's a lot to toss at any player who has just made a move to a new country, more to one who has just completed a move to a new continent, new language, very new cultural, and to boot, EPB is on his own for the first time.
    But Kort decided to try out something that hadn't been in the tool box at all in 2017-18, and was outside the comfort zone for everyone in the squad, and they tried it out on a better side.
    PLaying in a back three is very different than playing a back two. Playing on the left, he'd have cover in the libero that a back two does not provide. A back three demands a bit more adventurousness, but shape remains the defenders primary god. It's a tough ask on EPB, with a single mid season week of walkthrough practices to work it out.
    It shows an insane amount of confidence in EPB. It is not a system their talent or recent history would seem to advise.
    A much easier route would have been to put him into a dual CB role. In that case only EPB would have had to adjust to a new setting.
    Unless ol' Glen is a hopeless tinkerer who'd just been reading 442 about how almost everybody is trying out the 3 man back and just had to have the latest for his closet, it's a significant change.
    As for those who insist as using EPB as a prop in your anti-MLS arguments, there is no evidence that the player agrees with you, there is no evidence his career has stalled because of SKC. There is evidence that he's a far better player than when he came to SKC at 11. The facts do not back up your arguments. The facts indicate that a longtime SKC kid/young man is now doing quite well. His stated goal even before he signed his first professional contract was to play in Europe. He is. This is good news.
     
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  3. This actually was the only option as they had to enforce the midfield against Club's strength there without sacrificing attacking power.
     
    mschofield repped this.
  4. That's the beauty of the 2 Low lands competitions, the tactical variety toolbox coaches use to counter strengths.
     
    The Irish Rover and mschofield repped this.
  5. bungadiri

    bungadiri Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jan 25, 2002
    Acnestia
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  6. An article about him:
    https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20180306_03393308
    Erik Palmer-Brown, het Amerikaanse witte konijn van KV Kortrijk: “We lachen wel eens met zijn accent”
    Gisteren om 12:53 door GRETEL COOREVITs
    [​IMG]

    And another match report:
    https://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/live/voetbal/263541
    Club Brugge sloopt de bus van KV Kortrijk pas in de tweede helft, Kerels doen slechte zaak in strijd om Play-off I
    Club Brugge heeft op speeldag 29 van de Jupiler Pro League een heel goede zaak gedaan. Het won in eigen huis met 2-1 van een ultradefensief KV Kortrijk, Limbombe zorgde pas diep in de tweede helft voor de beslissing. Club Brugge behoudt zo haar voorsprong in de top van het klassement, een ticket voor Play-off I is voor de buren uit Kortrijk plots heel ver weg.
     
    matabala and LouisianaViking07/09 repped this.
  7. DirtyStriker

    DirtyStriker Member

    Jul 4, 2007
    Basehor, KS
    EPB's first start for SKC was actually as part of a back three. Of course none of the players had played it before, and his two partners were two outside backs instead of center backs.
     
    superdave and mschofield repped this.
  8. mschofield

    mschofield Member+

    May 16, 2000
    Berlin
    Club:
    Union Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Really interesting. I guess I remember the 64 minute effort ending with a red card, but I forgot. The defense that day (May 2014): Chance Myers, Erik Palmer-Brown, Seth Sinovic; .
    Shocking that they lost. Amazing it was only 2-1
    great catch.
     
  9. mschofield

    mschofield Member+

    May 16, 2000
    Berlin
    Club:
    Union Berlin
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    It isn't their only option, though. They hadn't used it once this season, implying that until EPB showed up, they didn't see it as any sort of viable option. Maybe they would have gone with it regardless, without EPB, though that would have meant two non CBs playing CB roles instead of the one they used.
    Previously, to deal with their midfield being overrun, they'd gone to a 3-2-1 setup.
    IMO, formations are usually overrated as a way to analyze, though they offer a window into intent, but this looks like more than coincidence, and maybe more like why they took him on.
     
  10. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Just want to see this again
    and better than the Brazilian league, so Belgium > Brazil.

    If you’re stupid.
    bullshit. Aren’t there like 50 teams in UEFA. I’m completely confident that those nations would be comfortably in the top half of UEFA.
     
  11. ArsenalMetro

    ArsenalMetro Member+

    United States
    Aug 5, 2008
    Chicago, IL
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    55. 27 and 28 are Scotland and Slovenia.
     
  12. Casper

    Casper Member+

    Mar 30, 2001
    New York
    Calling me stupid for something that could not have more obviously been a joke?

    Getting this worked up about the league comparison discussion, in what's an inappropriate place anyway?

    Is someone wrong on the Internet? THEY MUST BE SILENCED!
     
    DHC1 repped this.
  13. ArsenalMetro

    ArsenalMetro Member+

    United States
    Aug 5, 2008
    Chicago, IL
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    [​IMG]
     
  14. superdave

    superdave Member+

    Jul 14, 1999
    VB, VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My apologies then. Ive seen dumber arguments than that made here in complete sincerity.
     
  15. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
    so will he get a lot of chances over the next 2 months?

    and is it for sure he will be loaned to PSV in the Fall?
     
  16. Suyuntuy

    Suyuntuy Member+

    Jul 16, 2007
    Vancouver, Canada
    I have a feeling on neutral ground and with a temperature that is not too warm and not too cold, Panama could beat Scotland and Slovenia, actually.
     
  17. ? Who's saying that?

    Current developments at PSV with regards to the defense are the following:
    -CD on loan at Excelsior Rotterdam, who until his injury was leading the table of
    the best defenders in the "Ered" is mentioned by PSV sources to return to PSV.
    -CD of Ajax, Viergever has an expiring contract and PSV watchers mention PSV
    are interested to scoop him up
    -Obispo, Young Orange CD, is expected to join the first team ranks next season.
    -Taha Shariati, youth CD from Iran is being tested by Mark van Bommel
     
    LouisianaViking07/09 repped this.
  18. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
    maybe it was a rumor, but i could swear it was posted on here a week or 2 ago. About him going to PSV
     
  19. You mean that reliable Metro source that did prove me wrong about EPB not going to PSV?
     
  20. LouisianaViking07/09

    Aug 15, 2009
    Maybe it was that. I wanna say it was on the last 2 pages. I'll check.
     
  21. The Irish Rover

    The Irish Rover Member+

    Aug 1, 2010
    Dublin
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Ireland Republic
    Why bother. He's at Kortrijk until the end of the season, after which Citeh, he and his agent will sit down and assess his performance, decide what's the best option for them both and then start making and fielding offers in early July, by which time any interest PSV have had might as well have been expressed before World War I for all the relevance it will have. Maybe he'll wind up going there in August anyway, but it'll be because of PSV's needs as of August of 2018: e.g. they've sold an established CD, the next in line has buggered up his ankle ligaments and the ones behind aren't stepping up, so they'll dust down their scouting reports and start dialing for players who they've already assessed as being (potentially) compatible with their needs and playing style.
     
    zlebmada and LouisianaViking07/09 repped this.
  22. BostonRed

    BostonRed Member+

    Oct 9, 2011
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    On the bench:
     
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  23. KV Kortrijk out of the Play off 1, into the play off 2.
     
  24. Gorando

    Gorando Member

    Anderlecht
    Belgium
    Mar 12, 2008
    Belgium
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Belgium
    Which is good news for Erik
     

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