‘The lucky ones’ Mourinho hits out at Klopp’s Liverpool
Jose Mourinho has claimed that Liverpool are enjoying a run of good fortune that could deliver them trophies this season, labelling his rivals “the lucky ones” ahead of his eagerly anticipated visit to Anfield this afternoon.
The Manchester United manager pointed to three December victories, over Everton, Bournemouth and Napoli, to illustrate his claim – one that is unlikely to be appreciated in the red half of Merseyside.
But Mourinho also pointed out that such examples of good luck were often an important part of a trophy-winning team. “Of course, they are very confident about themselves,” said Mourinho. “They have this feeling of – I know that feeling well – the feeling of the ‘lucky ones’ where everything goes in your direction.
“They know how they beat Everton, they know that the last match, the opening goal was offside, and they know that against Napoli in the last seconds they could be out. They have this feeling – that I also had when my teams were top of the league and it looks like everything goes in your direction.”
Jurgen Klopp’s side benefited from an injury-time error from Jordan Pickford in the Merseyside derby at the start of the month. But, while Mohamed Salah did appear offside in scoring the opening goal at Bournemouth, Liverpool went on to win 4-0.
Finally, Alisson’s match-saving stop against Napoli in midweek was down to his excellence more than good fortune and maintained the wave of optimism sweeping through Liverpool.
“I think they are obviously very, very confident,” said Mourinho. “But I think they are not stupid. They also know that we have our weaknesses, our strengths, and I think they will respect our strengths. If they don’t do that I will be happy with that. They know that they need every point if they want to be champions so I think they are professionals and being professional is respecting Manchester United. They know that we can go there and win.”
Mourinho, meanwhile, says he does not yet know if he will have money to spend in January. As revealed in Telegraph Sport on Friday, he is growing more frustrated at the lack of financial backing from his board as the window approaches. “I don’t know if we are going to have new players ,” he said.
Chris Smalling yesterday signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until the summer of 2022.