No man is an island and he will always be a social animal. It’s not even a choice. Any association that brings two or more people together always has comparisons and differences tarrying along.
In football, trophies invariably take first place, first point of call to reflect on your club and check how much they’ve sucked over the years in comparison to others, especially close rivals.
Liverpool utility man, James Milner is saying that asides trophies, goals, wins and points, United and Liverpool can still be compared in terms of two of their most recent successive managers, Jurgen Klopp and Sir Alex Ferguson.
“He (Jurgen Klopp) loves the press conferences… I think he’s the same as some older managers, like Sir Alex, as he thinks the battle starts there,” He said.
Ferguson was known to use mind games to frustrate opposing by saying something controversial or making an accusation that will rile them up or just saying any crap that will make his team feel better about themselves.
Given that Klopp has only been in England for only 4 years, it would seem the German is rather much a fast learner.
Jose Mourinho was actually the only guy that stood up to Ferguson in that department and the phrase “mind games” became rampant during that era.
Today, none of them are in the Premier League and as such, Klopp’s verbal puzzles maybe worth it.
From complaining about referee decisions to his touchline mannerisms, the former Dortmund has molded out a bit of a character for the press to feed on.
James Milner also hinted that his coach’s behavior on-camera is hardly different from his off-camera persona.
“The manager is pretty much ‘what you see is what you get’… he doesn’t have a front for the cameras where he’s different behind closed doors to the players.”