Achterberg linked up with Steven Gerrard at Al-Ettifaq following his departure from Liverpool in the summer. What is life now like for one of the world’s top goalkeeper coaches in the Middle East?
It’s 9AM in Dammam, a city in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. John Achterberg is getting ready for a day of training preparation and a session later that evening, when the roasting middle eastern sun has subdued itself. His first item on the day’s agenda is a catch up with Goalkeeper.com - and that means a 6am start for us on London time.
The highly regarded Dutchman left Liverpool upon the expiry of his contract alongside the outgoing Jurgen Klopp & Co. entourage. The end of the 2023/24 campaign marked a changing of the guard at Anfield, with Klopp and his key staff departing in unison ahead of Arne Slot’s arrival on Merseyside.
For Achterberg, this marked the end of a 15 year association with the Reds. The last six of those had been gold-crusted, as his department oversaw the establishment of Alisson Becker as one of the world’s best goalkeepers. But the Dutchman, as we open our conversation, is clear that the successes of Liverpool’s goalkeeper department manifested beyond Alisson’s prowess.
“Of course it was emotional. That last week. You’ve been there for a long time, at a top club, and it’s been a big, big part of your life”, Achterberg begins.
“If you look back on what we achieved, we sold many goalkeepers. Danny Ward, £12 million, Grabara, £3 million, a few others, and now we have Kelleher who they want £25-£30 million for. But as football works, the time also comes to have a new challenge. Now I can try and help goalkeepers develop over here in Saudi.”
Following his departure from Liverpool, Achterberg worked on goalkeeper camps around the world, imparting his knowledge at the grassroots level. It was a call from Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, Al-Ettifaq’s manager, that ignited his interest in the job. Gerrard explained that he wanted Achterberg to come and “help the department and improve and create new goalkeepers”. The Dutchman admits that since then, the change has been “a new challenge and a different life, but I enjoy every day.”
It’s not a move that’s part of any grand plan for the 53 year old. The Saudi move is just another opportunity to prove that Achterberg’s methods work in different contexts. “I just want to show with the way I work that I can create goalkeepers and that is my passion, and that's how I will make it work”, he says.
On the pitch, the goalkeeping situation in Saudi Arabia had its differences, and presented a different type of goalkeeper to work with.
“In my head, I’ve got a profile of the goalkeeper I want. You want a goalkeeper probably somewhere between 1.88m and 1.94m, because after that, many goalkeepers struggle to be as athletic. In the Premier League you need fast, mobile goalkeepers.
“Obviously, in Saudi the people are generally not quite as tall, so you have to make that adjustment in what you expect from a goalkeeper. Our number one [ex-Fulham goalkeeper Marek Rodak] is a European goalkeeper so in that way, we brought him here to help” explains Achterberg.
“I scouted him for a while. Stevie had the final say, and they decided to sign him as the number one. But then we look to the Saudi goalkeepers and how we can adjust our profile to suit the game. There are not many goalkeepers over here who are taller than 1.90m, so you’re looking between 1.84m and 1.90m
“At the start, we were going to sign a number two and a new number three goalie from Saudi. But then looking at the young goalies, I think, okay, there's a few young goalies we can improve, for sure, and one can be the number three. So we decided to go that way. I like to create young goalies and help young goalies so we decided to go with the young goalie as the number three and try to go from there.”
Adaptation and change wasn’t only needed on the pitch to elevate the goalkeeper department at Al-Ettifaq. Gerrard’s leadership at the club had brought another European legend to the Saudi game in a managerial capacity a year earlier, and Achterberg strengthened the ex-Liverpool contingent by adding Andy Firth (who had played for Liverpool’s academy) to his goalkeeper coaching staff.
“We knew we were going to try to do the same things as at Liverpool in the goalkeeper department. After bringing in Andy, we looked at what we needed in terms of equipment to help the goalies in training and, you know, just try to work how I see things. In terms of development, try to work on game-specific moments and improve the power, the strength, with Jordan Milsom, who's in charge of the gym, and a few fitness coaches, because we have to develop the goalies' strength and power more”, Achterberg explains.
“As we discussed, the Saudi goalies are a different build, but we can improve strength and explosive power because we want athletic, mobile, jumping athletes who can move quickly in the goal and can play with both feet. So we try to do the same thing as in Liverpool, coaching and creating full package goalkeepers who can do every aspect of goalkeeping, and one of them is being more on the front foot and thinking ahead.”
Achterberg’s line of thought is interesting. A lot is made of the ‘difference’ between footballing cultures, and how different regions play and approach the game in different ways. In Saudi, where the game is still professionally very young, it may appear that a unique or re-strategised approach is needed to best develop goalkeepers. But the Dutchman is clear that his working vision for the goalkeepers at Al-Ettifaq is based upon consistency, and doing what has worked in the past.
“In the end, when you have worked in the game this long, you know what you have to teach the goalies to become better. And you can see what they have to work on”, admits Achterberg, explaining how his expectations and methods will not be radically different from his work at Liverpool, despite the geographical and relative standard shift.
“You get an eye for it, really. There's not many things as a coach you cannot improve. Obviously, you need the goalie to put the effort in but you can tell him where to be, positioning, what to do, technical, how to dive, how to move. You know, improving timing on the crosses, kicking, all the aspects that happen in goalkeeping. The only thing that is difficult is to make the right decision, because in the end, the goalie has to do it and he has to learn that by playing in games as well.”
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At the public level, however, football has massively grown in popularity in the Middle East, boosted by the import of superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Ivan Toney, Reuben Neves, and others. “The people are really passionate about it”, says Achterberg. Whether popularity follows investment, or vice versa, is one for football’s commercial analytics gurus.
“I think people don’t know how professional the people in the clubs in Saudi are, how the people want to improve and develop. You know, we're not coming here to be on holiday. We, they, come here to work hard to improve and make something happen, and I'm sure that will happen”, he continues.
The levels of investment in the Saudi game - and, crucially, where this investment is going - portray how seriously the authorities are taking it. Facilities are “no different between Liverpool and Ettifaq” in terms of the standard, and “everything is brand new, everything is there, whatever you need, they help you.”
Achterberg admits that he hasn’t yet had much chance to invest in the academy programme owing to his short time at the club so far, but has been communicating with the academy goalkeeper staff. 44 degree celsius temperatures do not aid schedule clashes; all age groups have to train in the evening due to the climate.
In this sense, day to day life is different. “In the morning, after the gym I get ready to prepare for the next training and go to the club at 12, and then I’ll be working until seven in the evening for training which goes on until 9pm. So it's no different than in Liverpool in that way, it's just different because of the weather. Here you can only train late in the evening”, he explains.
“The work rate is exactly the same, and the work effort is the same. I am the same guy with the same passion and I want to do this for many more years, so all is good.”
Away from Al-Ettifaq, Achterberg would be a prime candidate for supporting the development of the Saudi goalkeeper programme on a national level. He has worked across several goalkeeper conferences and camps in his career to date. In his own words, “I always speak freely to anyone to share my way of thinking…it’s important to have no secrets and just try and help everyone develop”.
“In the end the process becomes automatic. It’s about brain training goalkeepers - the same as learning maths at school or a new language. I haven’t spoken to any national teams yet, but if they want me I’m pretty easy to find! I never say never.”
On Merseyside, Achterberg leaves behind an elite goalkeeper group in which Claudio Taffarel will continue to work alongside new Head of Goalkeeping Fabian Otte.
“Fabian will come into a really settled group. They just need to keep at the same level, and that's his job now, and hopefully he can succeed. He already worked with two really high level goalkeepers and a few good, young, talented goalkeepers. So I think now it's there for him to try to find the next new one and try to develop the new ones and make young goalies a career. I guess that will be his job”.
Otte will be supported from afar by Hans Leitert who was appointed by owners Fenway Sports Group as the group’s Head of Global Goalkeeping, alongside Head of Football Operations Michael Edwards.
“I will follow Liverpool all the time”, finishes Achterberg. “I hope they do well and win many more trophies, because in the end, it's part of your life and part of your heart. So I will always be a Red!
“I need to produce goalies and want to be successful. And I always was like that. That's why I was at Liverpool for 15 years.”
A new life beckons in the Middle East for one of football’s most respected goalkeeper coaches, but the man living it stays the same.
