Manchester United at Liverpool is always a compelling and meaningful match-up, so it stands to reason that the two manager press conferences ahead of the rivalry fixture would be entertaining and substantial as well. Friday, the day of the week when all the Premier League managers typically hold their news conferences ahead of the weekend fixture was very newsworthy on both the Man United and the Liverpool ends.
United manager Jose Mourinho made comments that could be interpreted as a warning to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp while the Reds boss called out the media for what he believed they were trying to do at his presser.
Starting with Mourinho, he was asked a question about the importance of trophies, and he responded:
“I think trophies matter. It matters, especially when you have the potential to fight for trophies and especially when you clearly say the objective is to win the trophy.
“I think sometimes to just say it is not very intelligent but when you have the potential, you have nothing to hide, you know from day one your potential and your desire.
“To say we want to win, everyone can say that but another thing is to say the potential in a way you have but I think Jurgen said already they want to win the Premier League, that is their objective.”
In his first year on the job at United, Mourinho won the EFL Cup, Europa League and Community Shield. Meanwhile Klopp has yet to claim a single piece of silverware at Liverpool. He has led Liverpool to the final match of both the Champions League and the Europa League though.
During the Klopp media session today, there were a fair share of questions about United, a team that has had plenty of dramatic story lines this season. Liverpool, by contrast, are and have been relatively low in drama this season. Thus the German received more questions than he expected about his opponent, and it led to this rant.
“I don’t know what the atmosphere was like at the Man United press conference, but here it is rather positive,” Klopp said.
“We have a few injuries but apart from that it is all positive. From the other side it looks like it is not the best mood — lost the last Champions League game. You all prepare to make it easier for United in that situation, but we have to be angry on Sunday and we will be.”
“We fight for our points. We don’t solve problems for others, we have our own problems and our own targets and we go for them.”
“You want to talk with me about Man United, that’s the interesting stuff. Prepare the stories for Monday. Our job is that you have to write on Sunday night the right stories.”
He’s not wrong! Given the way media typically cover Klopp it will be interesting to see if that changes at all this weekend, given those comments.
Liverpool vs Manchester United FYIs
Kick-off: 4pm (BST), 11 am (EST), Sunday December 16th, Anfield
Odds via Bet365: Liverpool 4/7, Draw 3/1, Southampton 5/1
Form guide: Liverpool- WLWWWW Manchester United- DWDDWL
Manchester United Starting XI Prediction, Jose Mourinho Press Conference Video: go to this link
Liverpool Starting XI Prediction, Jurgen Klopp Press Conference Video: go to this link
Injury Report: go to this link
Google Result Probability: Liverpool win 63%, Draw 22%, Manchester United 15%
Prediction: Liverpool 2, Manchester United 1
Feel free to post your own starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be. Enjoy the match everybody!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.