You’ll Kop it again, Jose
KLOPP WILL CARRY ON WITH VERBALS
JURGEN KLOPP has warned Jose Mourinho to brace himself for another heavy metal ear-bashing.
Klopp had the Special One moaning that the demonstrative Kop boss was getting special treatment off match officials when the German masterminded a 3-1 Liverpool victory over Mourinho’s Chelsea last October. The Portuguese felt Klopp was giving fourth official Lee Mason too many verbals – but the Liverpool manager has vowed to carry on carping when Mourinho’s Manchester United arrive at Anfield tomorrow. Klopp said: “I have to accept that for a long time in my life not everybody is 100 per cent happy with my performance on the sidelines. “I would say that I am not as intense as I used to be when I was younger – but sometimes it still happens. “I’m also one year older. That’s what age in a positive way can do. I don’t know. We will see. “There were never incidents between Jose and myself before. “Everything has been good – until now. “Jose didn’t speak to me afterwards, of course not, so I don’t recognise the problem. But at Anfield there is much more space for all of us to work, so it should be OK.” Klopp has a fantastic record against Mourinho. In five meetings with the Portuguese in his time at Borussia Dortmund he has lost just once. M ourin ho was sacked by Chelsea six weeks after Liverpool’ s victory at Stamford Bridge last season. And when his Dortmund team beat Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2013, it signalled the beginning of the end for Mourinho at the Bernabeu.
This will be the first time they have clashed as rivals of the two most successful clubs in English football.
Klopp is confident that the football style he compares to heavy metal music will overwhelm a United team that will test Liverpool’s resolve at set-pieces given the aerial power of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini.
Mourinho will not be impressed with how Klopp described his tactical preparations for the game.
“We have already started to stretch our players,” joked the German. “When the ball is in the air then we will think about it. That’s only one of their qualities – but it is a good quality.
“Hopefully, we will come to a situation where United have to fight for the result and bring their tall players in the box – that would mean something had worked pretty well for us.
“Of course they have physical strength, but it’s only one strength of their team. We cannot change their quality, but we can try to avoid situations where they can use it.”
Klopp added: “It’s not Mourinho against Klopp. This is Liverpool against United, two very good sides.
“Yes we’ll try to get the points, but nobody knows at this moment who will get them.
“At this moment, everybody has the feeling that we are in a good way and they are not in a good way – but there are only three points difference. That’s nothing, but I am optimistic.”