I’ve got a lot of theories about the kind of player Eric is. While you’re right, he’s not quite the “jungle style” I was yelling about while you guys were fighting, there is a certain degree of randomness in his game that makes him difficult to read. He does indeed have several predictable strategies, though. For example, he loves his j.HK, c.HK no matter which character he uses (Though he does it a lot less with Ken since we’ve really started playing), and his entire nature is “flow-breaking.” I’m sure you remember that he would love to just back up with Blanka and get a charge, and then he’d get away and you’re at full screen again, totally boned. By backing up like that, he effectively breaks the flow of the match, whether it’s because he’s getting whaled on, or, strangely enough, if he’s at the advantage. My first reaction to this was that he needed his charge, but then I observed him doing this with Ken during your Ryu sessions. There’s absolutely NO reason he should back off on the pressure when he’s at the advantage, example would be when he’s got you in the corner and then he jumps back to Hadouken. This leads me to believe that, while his combos (which are nowhere near as complex as they should or could be) are not necessarily random, his game plan in general is completely random. This applies to any and every game that Eric plays: CvS, SFII, Alpha, Marvel, even Smash Bros.. I’m sure you remember those nights a couple years ago where there’d be a big clusterfuck of three people kicking each others’ asses and a lone Marth on the complete other side of Final Destination.

That said, I also think that Eric plays much more reactive than proactive, and while his punishes may not be efficient and it definitely becomes quantity over quality, the way to screw up his flow is to do the same thing to him but with quality over quantity. My fights with him nowadays ultimately become trading hits until he makes one mistake, and then I punish it with whatever I can, most of the time a combo into Ultra. From there, I simply out-turtle him and that causes him to make the same mistakes. So if I’ve got a life lead on him and he starts backing up to reset the flow, I’ll just let him. I’ll time him out if I need to, and that’ll punch him into action and make him several times more likely to make a further mistakes. The fight will either play out like that for the entire time, or he’ll get reckless and my rushdown will continue due to, yes, my greater amount of experience with the game. Thus, matches outside of SFIV are more even, but all it takes is me to learn one good, punishing combo and I can apply that strategy (Remember Garou?).

TL;DR version: Either take his strategy and send it back to him with a little ribbon, or out-knowledge him with the game (This includes knowing the matchup! For example, jab him out of that Blanka ball and then throw him once he gets surprised and starts turtling again).