Jürgen Klopp has ridiculed suggestions José Mourinho is a manager in decline and insisted his rival remains a fierce competitor who knows how to restore success at Manchester United.
Liverpool could open up a six-point lead over United and go joint top of the Premier League with victory at Anfield on Monday. While Klopp has created a clear style of play at Anfield, and Pep Guardiola likewise at Manchester City, Mourinho is yet to have a similar impact at Old Trafford or settle on a consistent team.
Having lost his job at Chelsea last season – just months after winning the Premier League – the Portuguese coach has been portrayed as losing his influence and being overtaken tactically by the high-pressing style of Klopp, Guardiola and the Tottenham manager, Mauricio Pochettino. But Liverpool’s manager argued: “Who said this? Four people in Liverpool? It’s bullshit. Rubbish. Who says this? He has started badly at United? They won their first games. So now you are giving B grades for winning?
“I try to play similar football now to my former team [Borussia Dortmund] and when we faced [Mourinho’s] Real Madrid it was unbelievably difficult to play them. If you want, you can say this and that about his players and my players. We have influence as a manager, of course. During the week, I would say a big influence. On match day there is still influence but not as big as during the week.
“He knows how successful football works. To like or not like the way he plays, why should he care? He has won the Champions League more times than I have played in it. That’s how it is. How can I say who is on the way here and who is on the way there? If I lose against Manchester United you will stand here and ask me: ‘So … what about your ways?’ I am not interested and absolutely not part of the group that says José Mourinho was or has been a good manager.”
Klopp insists his intense pressing style is not the only way to achieve success in football but, while sharing the same will to win as Mourinho, he claimed to place more importance on the game’s aesthetics than his United counterpart.
The Liverpool manager said: “He is a competitor. Without knowing him well, I know he will want to win this game. But the way to win it is not top of the list [of priorities]. It’s not about showing who plays the better football. We want to win this game. We don’t just play to enjoy ourselves and say ‘look, it’s nice’.
“We play to win. Of course, I want to enjoy our games, otherwise I have to wait for the result thinking there’s nothing to enjoy for 90 minutes. But there is not only one way. There are lots of ways and some of the most successful managers in world football had completely different ways. I can’t see there is one way of Guardiola, Pochettino, Klopp.
“If you think we have the same way then I know nothing about these two guys that I can say is similar from my point of view. We have our way without looking left or right, only trying to do our best.”
