Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp will compete against each other on Thursday evening for a little over a month since they faced each other in Anfield.
After Tottenham had a chance to win the game through Steven Bergwijn and Harry Kane in the second half, they ended up scooped when a Roberto Firmino header in the last minute secured a 2-1 win for Liverpool .
This wasn’t the only important topic of the game, however, as Mourinho commented on his opponent’s touchline behavior when speaking to the media after the full-time whistle.
Claiming he “would have no chance of staying” if he acted like the German, all eyes will be on the pair tomorrow night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Asked before the encounter in N17 whether he felt that things would change or be different when they meet again, Mourinho opened up the situation and explained why he had to change his own behavior.
“In my case, I felt an evolution. I felt an evolution in emotional control. I felt an evolution in calm the better I can read the game,” he said.
“And I’m even glad that my assistants sometimes look to the contact line to communicate and I stay in a privileged position. And I felt that I had to change my behavior, which I’m really, really happy with.
“This is my personal case. I can’t speak for other people.
“What I can say is if I was not well behaved, I paid the price. And I paid the price in two ways: one was to see matches on TV in the locker room, and another price was fines and I feel that the same thing doesn’t happen to some of the other guys, the same thing doesn’t happen to them.
“But when the referee and fourth official are there to do this job, I just hope they do this job and act as they should.”
Klopp’s touchline behavior wasn’t the only thing discussed after the game, as many pointed to Tottenham’s style of football on the night as they sat back and tried to hit Liverpool on the counter.
While it almost worked when Bergwijn wasted two very good chances, the Reds prevailed in the end thanks to Firmino’s late header.
When asked if the game at Anfield will determine the meeting between the two teams on Thursday, the veteran head coach added: “I honestly don’t know what was said. I know what I was feeling and I felt like that we were very, very close to victory. ” , very close to victory.
“And of course we lost on a corner in a single duel, minutes 90 or 91. I just had the feeling that we were very, very close to victory.
“And when you finish a game like this, the feeling is obviously not the best, but that’s football.”
Liverpool have surprisingly gone into the game quite out of shape after last losing their league victory at Crystal Palace when the Eagles were defeated 7-0 days after their win over Spurs.
Eliminated from the Champions League and with both Man City and Manchester United at the top, Mourinho has said he doesn’t see them any differently as they are still a very good team.
“Come on … I think Liverpool have lost since that championship, I say lost, but it should be that they haven’t won by an incredible number of points, since that moment they have been phenomenal,” said the 58-year-old if he was told, when winning the league defines a great team year after year.
“They lost the Champions League final and they were phenomenal. Then next season they won the Champions League, then they won the league. Come on.
“The team is the same or better. The trainer is the same or better. Because as a coach, it’s a job where experience helps you get better. Because for me a coach is better than before with a year.
“They have some very good players. They lost a fundamental player, they lost a fundamental player, we can say what we want, we can try to hide things, but some players are special and they cannot be replaced so the defense process sometimes even includes the loss of an attack is related to player.
“The attacking process also has to do with a defensive player that you’ve lost. It may look like a contradiction, but it’s not a contradiction. But there is no contradiction.
“A defensively very stable team is a team with much better attack conditions and vice versa. You lost Van Dijk. It’s very, very important to them.
(Image: Photo by Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images)
“If they have had a result or two, not the best results, they haven’t scored as many goals as normal, then it’s normal that they went into a little phase with a little less confidence, a little less results, but for me , they are the same. For me, nothing changes in my view of Liverpool. “
Then he asked if he believed he was going to be a true champion to defend his title and opened up the Premier League’s strength before claiming Liverpool could still recapture their crown in May.
“No. A champion is a champion. You win the title and you are a champion. Period,” he replied. “There are leagues in which the champions are decided in the preseason. In the preseason there are countries where you know who will win this league.
“This is not the Premier League. The Premier League is not like that at all.
“Only one team becomes champions. Only four teams go into the Champions League and two more into the Europa League. But you can’t say that people fail.”
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“The nice thing about the Premier League is that people react. Man City didn’t win them last season and they react very strongly. Manchester United doesn’t win for such a big club for that long, they reacted.” People react.
“Leicester is building, Tottenham is building. Chelsea are not happy either. They are a team that used to win the Premier League five or six times. People are reacting.
“In other countries, some clubs don’t have what it takes to react. It’s just an acceptance of the same team that wins, wins and wins, with a maximum of a second team to be challenged.”
“It’s not like that here and I think that’s a great thing. For me, Liverpool are a great team and they can still win the Premier League.”
