Klopp and Mourinho reactions show the paranoia of top managers

Gary Lineker believes some of the top Premier League’s managers are ‘paranoid and over-sensitive to criticism’, as he revealed he has faced some challenges dealing with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho.

Klopp and Mourinho offered up feisty interviews to reporters after disappointing results for their sides against Everton and Manchester City on Sunday, with the Liverpool boss especially irate after his team conceded a penalty in a 1-1 draw at Anfield.

Former England striker and BT Sport host Lineker takes part in regular interviews with the game’s leading figures on the game as part of his role with the BBC and he has opened the door to some of the exchanges he has had with the game’s top bosses and he has told Yahoo Sport that the intensity of the job at the highest level tests the temperament of those in the game’s top jobs.

“Management is a crazy job and it is enough to make anyone feel paranoid, so it is no surprise that guys like Klopp and Mourinho can be over-sensitive to criticism,” Lineker told us.

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“I have had periods when I have had really good relations with Mourinho and then I have had times when he has not been so friendly, but I had a similar situation with Klopp because all managers tend to work to the same rules.

“They don’t necessarily notice when you give them plaudits, which is probably 99 per cent of the time when we are talking about the top managers, and instead they remember the one throwaway comment on Match of the Day or the tweet that may have been mildly critical.

“With Klopp, I posted a tweet suggesting his selection of what was effectively a Liverpool youth team for an FA Cup tie was a but disrespectful to the competition and he still remembers that now, nearly two years later.

“The last time I went to interview him, the first thing he said to me was: ‘Am I being interviewed by the Twitter Gary Lineker or the BBC Match of the Day version’. “It was obviously because of that one comment and he clearly hasn’t seen the 50 nice tweets I have sent out about him but that is the world they live in.

“They are told by press officers that Gary Lineker has said something mildly negative on Twitter and remember that. This is how it works now.

“It’s similar with Mourinho. He can be a little bit moody, we have all seen that. I have had periods when I have had really good relations with him and then I have had times when he has not been so friendly, but that is Jose.

“The way his team plays, their results, the decisions of match officials largely influence his mood and whether he will be likeable or not before and after games. That is the way he has always been and in truth, that is the way I find most managers are these days.”

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