Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who has come out in
defence of the embattled Chelsea boss.
Jurgen Klopp has defended under-fire Chelsea manager Jose
Mourinho ahead of Liverpool's visit to Stamford Bridge on
Saturday.
Mourinho has come under significant pressure following a
dismal start to the season by the defending Premier League
champions, who are 15th in the table with just 11 points from
10 games.
The Portuguese manager has courted controversy by clashing
with staff and match officials throughout the campaign and was
charged with misconduct by the Football Association in relation
to his language and behaviour towards the match officials
following Chelsea's 2-1 loss to West Ham last weekend.
Defeat at Upton Park was followed by elimination from the
League Cup at the hands of Stoke City on penalties on Tuesday.
But Klopp, who is seeking his first league win as Liverpool
manager, said in his pre-match media conference: "I'm full of
respect for his [Mourinho's] work. If you're not a journalist or a
referee he can be a nice guy. I'm neither of those."
Mourinho criticised Klopp prior to Real Madrid's Champions
League semi-final clash with Borussia Dortmund in 2013,
saying the German talks too much.
However, Klopp insisted: ""He's a nice guy. He is emotional. I
am emotional. But we are professional enough to know after the
final whistle normal life starts again. That's what we did.
"Everything is okay between us, no problem."
Asked about Chelsea's struggles for form, Klopp added: "I have
experience of this. Things like this can happen. I'm not close
enough with Chelsea to know the reasons and I'm not a
journalist so I don't need to think all day about why things are.
"I'm interested in the football Chelsea have played recently and I
don't think it's as bad as the results showed us.
"We have to respect the quality of Chelsea."
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