No way is Jose past it
their first seven league games. But Klopp has railed against the impression his rival is a has-been.
“Who said this? You have asked the question of four people in Liverpool? It’s rubbish,” said Klopp.
“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’ve played in it.
“How can I say who is on the way up and on the way down? If I lose against United you will ask me, ‘So what about your ways?’ I am not interested and not part of the group that says Jose Mourinho was or has been a good manager.”
The heat on Mourinho is because he has set such a high standard in a trophy-laden past, but also because of his sacking by Chelsea last REPORTS JORDAN HENDERSON is reflecting on the day Jose Mourinho came to Liverpool to spoil the most raucous of parties when his train of thought suddenly snaps back to the present.
Manchester United can take an eternity over each goal kick tonight, every throw-in and set-piece can be played out as if in slow motion, and the pantomime villain in the visitors’ technical area can try to stoke the local anxiety as much as he likes.
This time around, Liverpool are ready for anything.
“It’s for Jose to do whatever he wants, really,” said Henderson.
“He’ll do whatever he thinks he needs to in order to win the game. We will be prepared for whatever is thrown at us. We’ll play as we have been. If we keep doing that, working as we have been, it doesn’t matter what other teams will do. They’ll not live with us.”
It is a bold claim from the Liverpool captain, but one which bears testament to the level of confidence coursing through Jurgen Klopp’s side ahead of the top flight’s most impassioned rivalry.
Liverpool versus Manchester United seldom requires the hard sell, and the bitter history Mourinho shares with the hosts means his scheming, skulking presence in the away dug-out serves to increase the sense of tumult.
Mourinho has not lost at Anfield since a Champions League semi-final defeat with Chelsea in 2007, and the most satisfying result in the sequence since then continues to gnaw away at the red hearts and minds.
Suspension confined Henderson to the stands on the April afternoon two years ago when Liverpool, on the brink of claiming the title, saw their charge spiked.
Steven Gerrard lost his footing, Liverpool their heads, but Chelsea’s gamesmanship stood out and the final word belonged to Mourinho who declared his team had no intention of being the “clowns at the circus”.
“I will never forget the Chelsea game at Anfield when we lost and we were going for the title,” said Henderson. “Just the way that they came and played was very clever from Jose.
“We were on fire and the way they played the game – very slow, sat in – it was difficult to watch.
“It was frustrating for me. I was a fan, I was in the crowd, I was shouting at the ref to get things going a bit