Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Season? I'll vote fifteen for "Lance" Erpen
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Seas 4 every game or so... I'll say 25 more.
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Season? The reason why we couldn't get him earlier in the season was because he was in the Tour de France.
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Seas how good was he tonight? i thought he was awful against NE, totally changed my opinion of him...
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Seas Only saw the second half, but he was tight tight tight. Very impressive.
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Seas I posted my opinions of him in the post game thread. I feel that I won't really know what he can do and how he'll fit in until next year, though. He will need to learn how DC maintains possession starting in the back and how to work the ball up field with quick triangle passing and occasional changes of field. Tonight he seemed to not know what to do with the ball. He must have sent 5+ long balls upfield, and not one connected. I think he was losing his mark on free kicks and corners (although that's hard to tell in real time without replays.) He's got speed, which is good because you can't learn that. And he obviously feels comfortable with the ball at his feet. He seems to have awareness as to who is around him. These are all good signs. They point to good potential to improve. I wonder if he can cross. If so, you might switch Namoff back, and try Erpen on wing. Of course, I'd also like to see how Namoff does after a few games at mid.
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Seas Gotta disagree with the thrust of your post. Its true that Erpen was more hesitant with the ball tonight—he took longer to make a decision than he had, say, last game. But then, would you be completely confident if you'd just recieved the kind of verbal flaying that I'm sure Novak gave to Erpen after the game on Saturday? In the end, it seems to have worked, because Erpen's passes were more intelligent than they were against New England (and as he took the few crucial extra seconds to size up each situation, you could almost make out even on the broadcast, over the TV announcers' loud barrage of inanities, the metallic sound of little clicking gears, whirring in Erpen's head). On the other hand, Erpen's accuracy was unchanged from last time, which only means that tonight he demonstrated a greater range and precision of long passing than anyone on the team besides our front three (and Quaranta). A handful of times, Erpen played an excellent pass forward, into space, or to the feet of a front runner. If he missed a few times too, thats fine—you'll never have 100% accuracy on that kind of pass, but the risk is much less than the reward. More importantly than that, I think, though more subtle, were Erpen's lateral, cross field passes, quickly moving the ball away from the mass of defenders. The only other United player who makes this kind of pass is Quaranta, who does it from an advanced position, with a different purpose (to create more space in the final third); Erpen sends his cross field passes from and across the backline, helping the team keep possession and move more decisively up the field. In this respect he offers a unique and valuable skill to the team.
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Seas Very good point. I think in time Erpen will be quite a weapon from the back sending through balls.
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Seas Bold prediction: He's gonna put one of those on goal by the end of the year. Off a set piece or something.
Erpen's biggest obstacle will be adapting to the different style of playing in the midfield in front of him - In Argentina, it seems that everyone in the midfield is a potential playmaker and will show for the ball and loves to receive it in any bit of open space - AND EXPECTS IT - And then expects the Defender to continue to show for him in Open Space - Not just as a safe pass back, but ANYWHERE - When the better Argentinian teams play like this, like River Plate and Boca most of last year, its a joy to watch - But bringing a kid who's been taught like this to come up here and be in a system of Role Players will take a lot of adjustment and learning - I'd say by next season he will be a lot smoother with his teammates Actually I'd love to see Erpen up as an Outside Halfback in a 3-5-2 and have Namoff back as the defender - I could see last night he was just itching to go up - A lot of times, Erpen was looking for someone who'd be ready for a Give-And-Go - But nobody was really showing for that, so he's either make a normal pass to a Role Player or plop one up field that nobody was ready for - Erpen (and the Midfielders) will learn a lot and get a lot smoother by next year
Re: Poll: How Many Bicycle Kick Clearances Will Facundo "Lance" Erpen Have This Seas I sort of said this in my other post... that Erpen looked more hesitant going forward, and I was guessing that it was because Nowak reamed him after the last game. I suspect that given time, Erpen will figure out what is expected of him, and the hesitation will disappear. We shall see.