Interview with Anssi Jaakkola: Inside the Mind of a Goalkeeper

Today our guest is Reading FC's starting goalkeeper, Anssi Jaakkola.

Jaakkola is the highest rated goalkeeper in the Championship according to Whoscored (as of Jan. 29th) and has been a regular for the club since October.

However, the majority of his 15 year career he has been a backup. Being a goalkeeper, especially a back-up goalkeeper, is the most unique position in football in my opinion. In his career he's played in 6 different countries: Finland (TP-47), Italy (Siena), Scotland (Kilmarnock), the Czech Republic (Slavia Prague), South Africa (Ajax Cape Town) and now England.

In this episode he'll discuss: the difference in mindset between backup and starter, Finnish football culture in the 1990's, different techniques in goalkeeping, why he almost quit football and what the term 'window' has to do with goalkeeping.

This entire interview has been uploaded to the This Football Life so if you want you can check it out there. Also, please feel free to reach out to Anssi about the interview on Twitter, his Twitter handle is @anssi_jaakkola.

Listen Here

Timeline

5:30 Finnish football culture in the 1990's

14:58 Moving to Italy

19:00 The mindset of a backup goalkeeper

30:26 The lesson he learnt in Prague

36:21 Italian league (Serie A) versus South African league

43:04 Improving goalkeeping technique

47:52 Scouting opponents

If you enjoy this episode you should check out my interview with player, ex-Birmingham City player, Michael Johnson.