José Mourinho believes Manchester United will thrive in the "huge animosity" of Anfield on Saturday because his players will relish the atmosphere.
United take on Liverpool in the early kick-off, conscious the greeting from the home fans will be hostile. Yet Mourinho is confident that this can help his side.
“You know this is quite funny for me, because I think when people speak about big atmospheres, it looks like we don’t like [this] ,” United’s manager said. “It looks like it’s a problem for us to go to a certain place and to face a big atmosphere – [but] this is what we want.
“I am surprised that you speak about that in a negative way. I am even more surprised when I hear former big players speak about atmospheres like something sinister, something that worries. It motivates us, it is something that we want, it is something that if we could have every match we would have every match.”
Mourinho used the recent game at the Camp Nou that was staged behind closed doors to reiterate his point. "You know, when Barcelona played against Las Palmas with an empty stadium, do you think the players were happy with that?" said the Portuguese veteran.
“Do you think Las Palmas players wouldn’t prefer to play with Nou Camp full of people and a great atmosphere? We are speaking about Old Trafford, in this case Anfield, like it’s a big problem. It’s a satisfaction, that’s what we want. I never see a player complain: ‘Oh, this atmosphere was very strong’ – we complain when the atmosphere is flat.
“When we play at home and we don’t see big enthusiasm in the people, we complain. So we go to where we want to go, we go to play against a big team with a big tradition in an amazing stadium with great tradition. We know that the fans have huge animosity against Manchester United historically, but this is what we want so we are very happy to have one more opportunity in our careers to play in this beautiful conditions. It’s beautiful to play at Anfield. Beautiful.”
United are second to Manchester City on goal difference. Mourinho was dismissive regarding whether Liverpool present his team's first real test this season, as the highest finishers from last season that United will have played.
“It is disrespectful to the opposition [we have played to say that]; not us, but for the opposition it’s not nice,” he said. “Everybody knows we don’t need to hide there are better teams than others and at the end of the season you have the proof of that: the champion, runner-up, third, fourth. I don’t think these teams that aren’t going to be champion or top four don’t mind if everybody says that. But to say they’re easy matches to win is a bit aggressive to them.”
Klopp criticism
Meanwhile, Jürgen Klopp has criticised Gareth Southgate's use of Jordan Henderson during the international break, claiming it made "no sense" to play the Liverpool captain against Lithuania.
Henderson played the entirety of England's World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Lithuania, much to the displeasure of the Liverpool manager, who believes the midfielder's recent injury problems should have led to him being rested for the win in Vilnius.
Klopp, who is also unhappy at the lack of preparation time for Liverpool and Manchester United before their early meeting at Anfield on Saturday, believes Southgate should have shown more consideration to Henderson's fitness issues, given that England had already qualified for the World Cup when they played Lithuania on Sunday.
“England played a friendly game on an artificial surface – it was a qualification game but they had already qualified – and I was not happy that Hendo was on the pitch to be honest, with all the problems he’s had in the past,” Klopp said. “It made no sense. We [club managers] cannot be involved in this. They [international managers] all make their own decisions. Sometimes I really wish we could have had more time to make preparations for such an important game. But it is our job and the same for the other team so let’s go.”
Klopp will be without the influential Sadio Mané against United, and for the next six weeks, after the Senegal striker suffered a hamstring injury on international duty.
“Obviously we can still play football without Sadio, as we have had to do this in the past – much more than we would have wanted,” the manager said.
“He is the highest-quality player and has been very unlucky with injury. A lot of players in this international break from different teams had injuries – it is a big problem with change of training and a different rhythm. That is always a problem and you hope nothing will happen. On this occasion it was Sadio, but no one else thankfully. We can play without him even if we would love to have him in the lineup.”
Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino only arrived back at Melwood from Brazil's World Cup qualifiers on Thursday, but Klopp is confident both will be fresh to face United.
He said: “The club has done everything to bring the boys back. We worked really close with other clubs in this region to bring all the South American players home together. They both had a long flight, even if it was pretty comfortable I am sure. I was not in the plane but I can imagine as I saw the price.”
Guardian service
