Jurgen Klopp vs Jose Mourinho: Premier League isn’t about the players any more – it’s about the men in the dugout

JOSE MOURINHO will have loved Jurgen Klopp’s press conference.

True, there was no talk of beautiful football on this night.

None about how the visitors had unpicked his Liverpool side or out-thought them.

Keep up to date with ALL the Premier League news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary by clicking HERE

Klopp kept referring to the ‘hectic’ atmosphere Manchester United had created on the pitch.

How they had forced his side to lose patience and waste energy.

Klopp had a smile on his face but was shuffling in frustration in his seat.

“Yeah, what can I say?” he asked, almost in submission in the face of Mourinho’s tactics.

Yes the United manager had  frustrated him, he had frustrated  Liverpool. He had done the job.

He had stopped the free-flowing Liverpool who had won their last five games in all competitions, scoring 16 goals in the process.

Mourinho will have loved that admission. The Special One clearly felt afterwards that Liverpool’s status as the great entertainers of the league had been overblown.

The ‘last wonder’ was how he sarcastically described the Reds and how their attacking play had been portrayed.

Well it was not on show last night so Kop for that, came the message from the United boss. His predecessor Louis van Gaal would have needed counselling if he had the possession stats Mourinho’s men achieved last night.

It was just 35 per cent to Liverpool’s 65 per cent — United’s lowest ever share of the ball in a game since Opta stats began.

But Mourinho does not care. The fact Liverpool had 65 per cent possession and managed to test his keeper David de Gea just twice was far more pleasing.

Mourinho even contested the stats, returning to the press conference room five minutes after he had done his stint to wag his finger at those who were left.

He claimed they actually had 42 per cent, United’s stat man had told him so. You can throw stats everywhere — like the fact Liverpool have covered the most ground this season and United the least.

That was 506 miles against 457 miles before last night.

Yet there are still only three points between the two sides. The first half at Anfield suggested even less.

This is as well as any side has done in stopping Klopp’s Liverpool. Even when Burnley beat them 2-0 Liverpool dominated.

Mourinho got the better of the first half and Klopp  the second as a couple of chances opened up.

But it was the former Chelsea chief who looked like the cat who got the cream while Klopp rued the stalemate.

The German said: “No one will show this game in ten or 20 years but we could have played better.”

But Mourinho will hope opposing managers who come here DO talk about his team’s display.

Watch it and see how to break up Liverpool, how to get into them, how to defend deep and close down space.

How to be ‘hectic’.

Indeed, he has an incredible knack of making a rather drab goalless draw become a great moral victory.

He called this a ‘positive’ result as it stopped a team getting three points at home.

The Portuguese coach can even change your perception of what you have seen and leave you rubbing your eyes.

Playing both Jordan Henderson and Emre Can and leaving them deep showed a negativity on Klopp’s part, according to Mourinho.

It was they, in fact, who were  worried about United —  not the other way around. Indeed it was United who were masters on the night,  having controlled the game both ‘tactically’ and ‘emotionally’.

Mourinho took pride in the fact his team had silenced the Kop.

So the latest instalment in the battle of the Galactico bosses is done.

Having heard that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola had outdone him at home, while Klopp was winning against both Arsene Wenger and Antonio Conte, some were casting Mourinho as a man from the past.

Klopp said that was bull. He emphasised just how hard his teams are to play against.

Last night at Anfield bore that out.

Guardiola’s City were supposed to run away with this title. Klopp’s Liverpool were finally looking like  a side who could end a wait of over a quarter of a century for a title.

Mourinho, by contrast, was having his worst start to a league season since he was at Uniao de Leiria 15 years ago.

But as he said: “Other candidates for the title have easier fixtures at the moment and it is important to keep close to them — our opportunity to get five wins in a row will come.”

Listen to him last night and all is well.

For Klopp, all was hectic and Mourinho will have been very happy about that.