Somewhere along the way, Mourinho manoeuvred himself into a position where he thought it would be a clever play to talk about how much better Liverpool are than the team he has put together.
In his third season, with all the money he’s invested, with all the time he’s had and boasts he’s made, he’s happy to admit now that Liverpool are just a better side and that all he can ask of his players is to try their best.
That’s the progress United have made under the man who was brought in as a short-term fix, with one brief to win the title.
His most expensive signing wasn’t deemed worthy of one minute of action at Anfield as Liverpool hammered United like no other team has been hammered in the Premier League this season. In fact, Klopp’s men racked up the most shots in any game – the next closest was City against Huddersfield.
Pogba, so influential in the World Cup for the eventual winners France – fuck that, so good for United at times, watched on from the subs’ bench with a manager taking sadistic pleasure in keeping him out of the game even if it was at his own expense.
On Sunday night’s episode of The Football Spin, Dion Fanning scoffed at the idea that Fellaini would be called upon to rescue the sinking ship over Pogba.
“In a team that values him, Pogba would offer something that isn’t Marouane Fellaini fucking knocking a steward off his milk crate,” Fanning said.
“That’s Manchester United now. That is the face of Manchester United forever under Jose Mourinho: Marouane Fellaini slicing a shot so far wide that a poor steward who was caught totally off guard by this ball coming towards him ends up getting knocked off.
“And that’s it. That’s the most dangerous Manchester United were this season.”
One of the glaring differences in the two dugouts, of course, is the use of that squad. During the week, ‘Pool had a massive, must-win European night to salvage their Champions League campaign and they beat a fine Napoli side when the pressure was on. They did that with Milner and Henderson who, on Sunday, were replaced with Keita and Fabinho.
And, whilst Fellaini was slicing efforts in true Fellaini style, Liverpool were calling on Xherdan Shaqiri from their bench and it told.
Before he came on, Klopp was giving the Swiss international some detailed instructions, as seen by Melissa Reddy at Anfield (listen from 10:50 below).
With host Paddy McKenna pointing to Gary Neville’s previous comments about Shaqiri, Reddy described a man who has become one of the most reliable figures at Liverpool. And she also revealed how he was unleashed on United’s 10-man defensive system.
“To be honest, it wasn’t unexpected,” Reddy said of Shaqiri’s cameo.
“He’s been doing it all season – decisive when it matters most.
“I actually saw Klopp had a lengthy conversation with him on the touchline before he came on because they were getting ready to make the substitution and needed the go-ahead from the officials.
“But, whilst that was happening, you could see Jurgen telling him to really force the game.
“He was showing him, displaying back heels, telling him to open the game up and I don’t think a player like him needs any encouragement to do that.
“In a game like that when you’re facing a deep, defensive side, you need some invention, confidence and a little bit of arrogance to get past them and he has all that in abundance.
“It’s quite interesting because Mourinho has always been a spoiler. He loves coming into these kind of environments where he can prevent a team going top of the league, especially if the team is Liverpool. But tonight, it was Shaqiri spoiling his party.”
