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#4 He’s Already Trying To Deflect
Tying in a little with the concept of mind games, and Jose Mourinho has already tried to deflect the pressure of Premier League away from Old Trafford before a ball’s even been kicked in the 2018/19 season.
Over the years, many a successful manager – including Mourinho himself – has tried to take the pressure off their own team by deflecting it to a rival club. But when that doesn’t work, or if it comes across like a desperate ploy from a manager, it looks embarrassing.
During Manchester United's pre-season tour of the United States, Jose has already moved to heap pressure on Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool team. In typical Mourinho fashion, he initially praised Liverpool’s recent transfer activity, before adding, “maybe this season finally you demand they win” as he did his best to position Klopp’s Red Men as a more realistic title contender than the Portuguese’s own Red Devils.
This was a comment that also reeked of sending a message to his own board; as in Mourinho has seen Liverpool spending all of this money, signing all of these top-tier players, and the former Real Madrid manager sees himself as having his hands tied in the transfer market. As ever with Jose, there’s always an ulterior motive or two in his words – and here, he again seems as if he’s laying the foundations for “failure” not to be frowned upon should United finish behind Liverpool in this coming season.
