Liverpool sit proudly at the top of the Premier League. For the moment. Jürgen Klopp, despite being a serial cup final attendee is also a serial cup final loser. He has now been in charge of Liverpool for three years and has won……NOTHING!
Is he under pressure? No. Why not? Nobody really knows. He has spent much more in the last two seasons than his counterpart at Old Trafford and yet José Mourinho, who has won three trophies in his time at United as well as finishing runner-up in the Premier League, is under scrutiny EVERY day.
Since the summer of 2016 Klopp has spent £411.55 million against Mourinho’s £392.55 million. Not bad for a man who totally disagrees with the idea of spending large amounts of money in order to try and win prizes. He has broken the world record fee for a defender then followed this up by breaking the worldrecord fee for a goalkeeper, (this has since been surpassed by Chelsea in buying Kepa Arrizabalaga).
The popular theory is that Klopp is loved by everybody because his team plays exciting, attacking football and he is always very animated on the touchline. Well, having watched the game against Brighton yesterday, his team played poorly and were fortunate to leave Anfield with their 1-0 win and his animation stemmed mainly from disappointment at the way they were struggling against their opponents.
José Mourinho, on the other hand, is not animated on the touchline, he is quite sensible and sedate, certainly when compared with Klopp. His teams have not been renowned for playing exciting, attacking football although every one of them has been capable of it as and when he thought it appropriate.
He is the most successful manager currently employed in the Premier League and yet it is he who is under pressure.
A programme where “experts” can display their distinct lack of experise about a sport they have never played and know little about!
Some of the “experts” on The Sunday Supplement, a discussion programme where assorted hacks who spend their time asking the most stupid questions at press conferences and then writing whatever they feel should have been said in order to generate some interest, feel that football has changed and Mourinho is under pressure because of the style of football his team plays.
There may be an element of truth in this theory but football HAS NOT changed. It has always been, at the very top, a win-at-any-cost industry.
Many supporters have very quickly forgotten that Manchester United waited 26 years to win the Premier League after they won the old First Division title in 1967. During all that time they played some very dour football under some very dour managers. Wilf McGuinnes, Dave Sexton, Frank O’Farrell immediately spring to mind as being complete failures in the same mould as David Moyes.
However, under Tommy Docherty, the team played some of the best football ever seen at Old Trafford and around the grounds both in the second division and the first. Had it not been for Docherty’s affair with Mary Brown, had Mary Brown not been the wife of the club’s physiotherapist and had Sir Matt Busby not still been involved with United, then Docherty may have survived and gone on to become a very successful manager at Old Trafford.
He was followed by Ron Atkinson who is famous for blowing a massive lead at the top of the first division after winning his first ten games of the season. Who finished as winners that year? Yep, Liverpool.
These were exciting times for United although all they ever won was the occasinal FA Cup.
What the fans of all clubs really wanted was good football AND trophies. This is not something which has recently become the norm. Just because Manchester City have won the title playing exciting, attractive football does not mean that other club’s fans have suddenly decided their team has to play this way.
They have ALWAYS wanted their team to play this way but wanting something and gettng it are, more often than not, two very different things.
Docherty with George Best – another relationship he couldn’t maintain or control
So the current differences between United and Liverpool are very apparent. Liverpool have a charismatic manager who the press love and who has won nothing, whereby Manchester United have a moaning managr who the press used to love but now don’t really like and who has already won three trophies in his short time at United.
Obviously a mixture of the two would be a pretty decent manager and Pep Guardiola is probably the nearest thing but, as things stand, Mourinho is the manager more likely to fill the trophy cabinet than Klopp, as has been proved over the years.
United’s so-called “supporters” should be careful what they wish for.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 