For Jurgen Klopp, now is not the time for mind games. Instead, with the title on the line, it is about simple straight talking.
The Liverpool manager argues that he’s rubbish at putting pressure on opponents anyway, unlike his surprising friend and sometime supporter Sir Alex Ferguson, a manipulating pantomime villain for Liverpool fans even now. “Unfortunately, I have no skills for playing mind games,” he said in the run up to the biggest game of the Premier League season so far, as leaders Manchester United arrive at Anfield for an explosive top of the table clash.
His words were a putdown to former ref Mark Clattenburg - and to visiting boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - who both suggested he highlighted United’s barely feasible number of