No wonder Jose’s frazzled but he’ll still be judged on trophies like all the others

EVERYBODY’S feting Maurizio Sarri and Jurgen Klopp at the moment, and I can understand that.

Their Chelsea and Liverpool sides have been a joy to watch this season, with Sarri getting the Londoners playing great football in no time at all and my old club continuing where they left off last season.

But, you know what, for as much as I like piling in on Jose Mourinho these days, I have to say he brought the same entertainment when he first arrived in the Premier League and was a laugh a minute, too.

With his throwaway lines and his, “I am a Special One”, he got his players, the media and huge swathes of football fans in general onside in no time at all.

What has happened though, is that working year in, year out for massive clubs has taken its toll on him.

Don’t forget, he might have had an occasional few months off after being sacked but he hasn’t had a selfplanned sabbatical in the same way Pep Guardiola has or Zinedine Zidane is doing.

Mourinho has been in the spotlight constantly for more than a decade and, for fiveand-a-half of the last eightand-a-half years, he has been under it at arguably the two biggest clubs in the world in Real Madrid and Manchester United.

So no wonder he’s frazzled – you can see that’s the case with the way he is responding to criticism.

When you’re firing on all cylinders you laugh it off and when you’re feeling average you might have a little bite back.

But if you’re shattered then you let it get to you and you answer back in the way Mourinho has been doing.

Klopp, with the greatest of respect, is only just entering the expectation zone Mourinho has inhabited for years, and if Liverpool don’t win something soon then he will start to feel the heat.

Sarri hasn’t had time to win any silverware, of course, but Chelsea are habitual title and cup winners and there’s only so long the board and fans will tolerate good football without trophies.

That is ultimately what managers are judged on and that’s one of the places Mourinho will be coming from in terms of his spite and ire. Because

even in a disappointing season at United he won the FA Cup and Europa League, so it’s fair comment from him if that is the case.

What will be fascinating on Saturday is to see how United do at Chelsea, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the great escape against Newcastle didn’t kickstart a little run for United going into early November.

Against his old club, Mourinho will be saying, ‘Under no circumstances do we lose today’, and whatever has been going on at Old Trafford, they are still Manchester United.

After the game against Liverpool, in which Sarri’s approach and gamemanagement really impressed me, Chelsea and their boss will relish this fixture too.

I fancy a tight 1-1, although if one man is going to win it for his side then it will be

Eden Hazard.