The "Special one" vs The "Normal one"

Jose Mourinho vs Jurgen Klopp has become a fascinating battle in the premier league and in Europe, the two managers have come up against each other 11 times, with Klopp coming out on top with 5 wins to Jose's 2 wins, with 4 draws. Jurgen Klopp has now come up against 4 different Jose Mourinho side's (Real Madrid, Chelsea, United and now Tottenham), which makes it such an interesting face up and gives us a perspective on how Mourinho has or hasn't changed over the last decade or two. The latest meet between these managers was on the 11th of January 2020, Jose Mourinho now in charge of Tottenham, might have a bone to pick with Jurgen with the German essentially ceiling the coffin in Jose's Man United managerial career with a 3-1 loss at Anfield for the Portuguese manager. With this meet we see the two managers in very different positions, Klopp at the height of his career and having his club in an amazing position for now and the future, whereas Mourinho has taken over a club in disarray, spurs having one of their worst starts to a season in recent years, injury crisis and their new manager having just 6-7 weeks to get the club back on track. From this we can see a real mix match in positions of clubs and Managers in another sense.

Now when we look at the game from Saturday, the game went the way you would expect, Mourinho playing five at the back, parking the bus, letting Liverpool have the ball and playing on the counterattack and when we look at the stats for the game you an see this clearly; 67% possession, 786 passes to 381 passes and 961 touches to 591, Liverpool dominating everything in the game and ultimately showed in the result with Liverpool winning 0-1, the goal from Firmino, but could of easily been more. However, this does not mean that Spurs did not have chances in the game, in the second half especially, Spurs capitalised on Liverpool's mistakes and created half chances and a couple big chances that could of easily put Spurs on the score-sheet, if their finishing didn't let them down. The big one that fell for Spurs was for Lo Celso, which looked to be a certain goal when Aureir put in a teasing ball across the box but Lo Celso's out-stretched leg manged to send the ball back across the box and out for a goal kick rather than thrash the back of the net. Even though this game could of been turned on it's head with a Spurs goal coming from one of these chances, it would of been a real injustice to Liverpool as they completely dominated the game, especially in the first half and really should of been more than 1-0 up going into the second half. Some standout performers for the game; Alisson, Firmino, Van Dijk, Tanganga (Great debut for me) and a special mention to Adam Lallana who came on when Liverpool were a bit frantic and losing control, but Lallana brought a sense of calm and stability to Liverpool in their last 15/20 minutes of the game. Alisson was the Man of the match for me though, people might be surprised by this as he didn't have to make a great deal of saves but the saves he did, he held onto them, most keepers parry the shots he faced and cause further issue for their side, but Alisson's positioning is impeccable and always manages to keep hold of the ball. He was also very alert in the game, coming out to be a sweeper keeper, his distribution was on point and he just gives his defence a sense of calmness that emulates through the team.

Now if we look at Jurgen Klopp's clashes with Mourinho before this game, with both Liverpool and Dortmund, we can see a real battle of two great managers:

December 16, 2018 Premier League Liverpool 3-1 Man United

March 10, 2018 Premier League Man United 2-1 Liverpool

October 14, 2017 Premier League Liverpool 0-0 Man United

January 15, 2017 Premier League Man United 1-1 Liverpool

October 17, 2016 Premier League Liverpool 0-0 Man United

October 31, 2015 Premier League Chelsea 1-3 Liverpool

April 30, 2013 Champions League semi-final Real Madrid 2-0 Dortmund

April 24, 2013 Champions League semi-final Dortmund 4-1 Real Madrid

November 6, 2012 Champions League group stage Real Madrid 2-2 Dortmund

October 24, 2012 Champions League group stage Dortmund 2-1 Real Madrid

From this we can see that Klopp has come out on top with only two losses to the Portuguese manager, giving us an indication of Klopp's tactical prowess in overcoming Jose's defensive block he tended to adopt in big games.

These two are very different managers when it comes to their tactics, man management and way they look at the game as a whole, Klopp being the pressing maestro who is loved by all his players and then we have Mourinho who is the more pragmatic, defensive manager who had a way of getting under players skin, getting the best out of some and alienating others. Mourinho now also being seen more and more as a manager out of his time, not moving with the times and could be considered a dinosaur in this crop of Premier league managers. We can see a sense of this from their last two meetings, both loses for Mourinho in games where he set his side up to defend and out 8/9 players behind the ball and hit Klopp's side on the counterattack and both times it hasn't paid off. Klopp's style of pressing from the front, fluid football is much more the modern game and it has shown Mourinho up both times in their last two meetings. Furthermore, I think if you ask many fans who's style of play they prefer the vast majority of fans would pick Klopp's, because it is very much the modern way of football and the way we as fans have accustomed to see, we like attacking football.

Now obviously if you put the two head to head for trophies, Mourinho blows Klopp out of the water and rightly so as Mourinho is one of the mist successful managers in the modern game, but it is coming to a time where you see Mourinho declining in his managerial prowess and Klopp seems to be on the rise with every year and every victory he is amassing. Both exceptional managers in their own right and we should always remember them both as Greats, but for now Klopp has the edge over Mourinho in the modern game and will continue to win trophies with Liverpool whereas Mourinho might of seen his last trophy with Man United when he won the Europa League.

This game could be the last game these two play against each other with Mourinho's future not a certainty and could be shown the door in the summer if he can't get Spurs back on track and into the race for top four. Klopp seems to have won the battle of these "Great" managers but what is safe to say is that as football fans we hope it isn't and have enjoyed every game these two have taken part in against each other.