Typical Mourinho. Football managers, by nature, are sore losers, but only the erstwhile Special One would turn into Donald Trump.
Spurs had lost every facet of their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, some convincingly, some overwhelmingly, yet still he ranted: “The better team lost.”
To be fair, they could have stolen it had they worn their shooting boots. On the other hand, if it had been boxing, the referee would have stepped in to save them from further punishment.
The Portuguese’s tactics might have been borrowed from the ring – more rope-a-dope than parking the bus – and straight from Muhammed Ali in the Rumble in the Jungle.
They may look negative, but they’re just cunning: designed to lure an opponent into a tiring, ineffectual barrage before suddenly striking like a cobra in an unguarded moment.
Just as Ali did against George Foreman in 1974.
At Anfield on Thursday morning, the count was all in the home side’s favour. On corners it was 7-4, attempts on goal 17-8, the number of passes was 448 to 119 in the first half alone.
Possession? Liverpool had so much (76%) they could have opened a food stall in Spurs’ half.
At least Mourinho didn’t ask for a recount.
Because this is the way he plays the game. As revealed in his acclaimed biography, The Special One: The Dark Side of Jose Mourinho, he believes whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake.
He says whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake, and whoever has the ball has fear.
These are points 4, 5 and 6 of Mourinho’s seven-point plan for big games. And this was a big game. You could tell how much it meant by the way Liverpool celebrated – and the way Mourinho moaned.
For him, it felt as if Foreman had finally caught Ali in the 15th round instead of succumbing in the eighth – a gut-wrencher after soaking up so many punches.
And he came close enough to believe that although he lost this battle, the war is far from over.
Liverpool put three points of daylight between themselves and the chasing pack for the first time this season. Makes you wonder how far they’d be ahead had it not been for VAR and injuries.
Four inexplicably VAR-deducted points are well documented, but had they not lost half their first team to medium- and long-term injuries, you feel they’d be further ahead than they were this time last year.
The way the youngsters have fitted in has masked the losses to a great extent. Indeed, Jurgen Klopp has said of the academy grads: “They’ve saved our season.”
It has been a remarkable performance by kids who were still considered wet behind the ears when the season began. Curtis Jones, in particular, has settled into first team duty as if to the manor born.
When Virgil van Dijk was crocked by Jordan Pickford in the Merseyside derby, and Joe Gomez soon followed, few would have imagined that the champions would be top of the table two months later.
And when Allison, Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, and now Diogo Jota have also been out for varying spells, good judges were already writing off their chances of retaining their crown.
But just imagine where they’d be now if Thiago had been able to play more than a couple of cameos – the world class midfielder bought to add something different has hardly had a kick.
Yet Jurgen Klopp has managed to get a high level of performance out of his squad with only the occasional blip. And the home record is now 66 games unbeaten in the Premier League.
As for Mourinho, he conceded a goal at the death for only the third time in his career – a staggering tribute to how focused his teams can be – and for all his emphasis on defence, this was an engrossing game.
One in which Spurs created a surprising number of chances given how little they saw of the ball.
He has done wonders without spending much: Spurs finished 40 points behind the Reds last season while stellar loanee, Gareth Bale, has still played more golf than football.
And in Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane they have a lethal duo to be feared by any defence in the world.
With Manchester City yet to provide the sustained challenge we expected and inconsistencies elsewhere, his superbly-drilled side look the most likely challengers to Liverpool’s crown.
City may yet click into gear and Chelsea have the players, but in terms of potential top two, we were probably looking at them in midweek.
To Mourinho’s eternal credit, Spurs are no longer Spursy, but his problem is that Liverpool are still Liverpool.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.