Achterberg comes to the club and we sign a succession of mediocre keepers who don't improve enough. As necessary connections go, it wouldn't get David Hume's vote, that's for sure. You never used to hear Chelski fans say, 'Wow, we must have a great goalkeeping coach, because our keeper's top class!' Same goes for the mancs. It's only when a keeper messes up that the coach gets discussed. Achterberg is much admired at the club - he works the longest day, he's always looking to bring in other goalkeeping specialists for special sessions, he studies video analysis obsessively, and he changes the training work as and when he thinks new challenges are needed. I don't know if that means he's a good goalkeeping COACH, but although it's always tempting to onlookers to say, 'The keeper's crap, it must be Achterberg's fault,' that's actually quite a leap in logic. I think if you stand back and look at things impartially, you can actually see improvements in all the keepers' performances under him. Karius certainly came back looking stronger, his distribution looked better, his kicking was a little more accurate, his communication with defenders was a bit more decisive - none of that got Achterberg any plaudits, but the brain freezes got him flak. Put it this way, if we sign a much better keeper I don't think Achterberg will make him worse. Beyond that I just don't know enough about it.
