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Why different culture is no shock to Maenpaa [The Argus]



Newshound

Brighton 8049
Jun 5, 2011
18,360
Niki Maenpaa is ready to learn lesson from his first proper taste of English football.
And he reckons he will be better prepared next time a series of crosses come into his penalty area.
The big Finnish goalkeeper is back on the sidelines today as David Stockdale returns to centre stage against his old club Fulham.
But both keepers have a clean sheet to their name already, Maenpaa thanks to a superb late save at Southend and some, at times, less convincing work coming for high balls.
Culture shock? Well the culture at Roots Hall against a lively Southend outfit was different to what he was used to in the Dutch league.
But it wasn’t really a shock to him.
“It was a bit different,” he said when asked to compare the Roots Hall experience to what he had been accustomed previously.
“There were many crosses and a couple of them I didn’t deal with them really well.
“In the first half there was one where I came halfway and, in the second half, there was a corner where I missed the ball.
“But I knew already that it might be like this in England.
“I knew a lot of teams play from the wing and get a lot of crosses in. I just need to get used to it.”
Maenpaa will have gone through the game with goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts since the 1-0 success secured by Kazenga LuaLua in added time.
He added: “Ben will pick up some points of my game and we will see what I did well and what I can do better.
“But there were also many quality balls and I couldn’t come on many crosses. They were good quality.”
Maenpaa is a physically imposing figure who would love to be a big hit in England and impress his Finland national team boss.

But he admits the second part of that has not been easy.“We don’t even have a manager at the moment,” he said in reference to the dismissal of Mixu Paatalainen in June due to poor results. Hans Backe is expected to take over in charge.
“Of course it is important to be playing but no one from Finland has said anything.”
But saves like that which perhaps kept Albion in the Capital One Cup will help his cause in terms of getting into the Championship line-up and keeping his place in the finnish side.
Maenpaa got up high to his left to push away Anthony Wordsworth’s volley.
He said: “I think it was about 20 yards and I could see the ball really well all the way so I could react immediately. It was an important save and I’m happy that Kaz scored and we could win.”

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