Klopp, Pep Enjoy The Backing Of Their Clubs – Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has said the reason why Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola are enjoying so much success is because of the total backing they receive from the owners of their clubs.

He said, “You have for example the case of Manchester City. In the first season, Guardiola was not champion, it was really difficult,” Mourinho said. “People [were] expecting a winning Manchester City. They were coming already from winning periods. They were champions with [Roberto] Mancini. They were champions with [Manuel] Pellegrini. Some of the players were already champions twice — [Sergio] Aguero, [Vincent] Kompany, lots of them.

“And in the first to the second season, Pep made great decisions, but great decisions that were supported. I give you as an example, he didn’t want [Pablo] Zabaleta, didn’t want [Bacary] Sagna — two right-backs. He didn’t want [Aleksandar] Kolarov. He didn’t want [Gael] Clichy. In the same summer, he sold four full-backs, [and] he got four full-backs. He got [Kyle] Walker, Danilo, [Benjamin] Mendy and … I don’t remember, [Oleksandr] Zinchenko or [Fabian] Delph or something like that. He was supported.

“You see today in Liverpool, and I was thinking how many of these players were in Liverpool before Jurgen [Klopp] arrived? No Alisson, no [Virgil] van Dijk, no [Andrew] Robertson, no [Mohamed] Salah, nor [Roberto] Firmino, no [Sadio] Mane, no Fabinho. [Georginio] Wijnaldum, I don’t think he played today [in a 4-3 win over Crystal Palace], but no Wijnauldum, no [Naby] Keita. This is work in-depth.

“So when, the other day, I was speaking about leadership related to the structure of the club, it’s not just leadership, it’s everything. It’s even the football ideas. So if you are a manager that you have in your hands the possibility to choose the player that you want to follow your football idea, or to follow the idea you think is the best to win a certain competition, that’s one thing. Another thing is if you are not able to do that.”