Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp's philosophies are miles apart but scratch beneath the surface and similarities emerge

Manchester United’s drab and ultimately damaging 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Anfield knocked the away side off their stride. For Liverpool, it might even has been taken as a fillip. About five months later, United have yet to really kick themselves out of their funk, despite finding themselves in second. Jurgen Klopp’s side are closing in after rousing themselves into an exciting and threatening side. Liverpool and United are very different on the pitch, but their managers might have more in common than supporters would like to admit.

The question for United is whether Jose Mourinho is ready to change his standard approach for big games. In October, Liverpool were vulnerable at the back and had not found rhythm consistently in attack. Then, as much as any time this season, they were there to be taken apart defensively. Mourinho decided that he would duck the challenge, happy to play for a miserable 0-0 draw and take the point. At that stage in the lead, it was a reasonable proposition. City were not yet out of reach, and it might have served as preparation for tougher matches to come. Mourinho was mocked and criticised for failing to play to his side’s strengths, and for delivering barely a moment’s entertainment. It has set the tone for the rest of United’s season, and the party line to point out Mourinho’s flaws.

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However, Mourinho’s mistake appears to be that a commitment to defensive football doesn’t solve a weakness sufficiently well to justify the damage it does to United’s attack. The problem with Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young is that they are so poor defensively they seem almost certain to gift at least one goal to the opposition. In order to protect them, Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba sit so far back that they cut off the forwards from the rest of the team. There are few overlaps from the full-backs, and risible support from the midfield duo to add bodies through the middle. Nothing is certain, and Mourinho is no fool, but with the talent up front it seems a mistake not to give his best players a chance to cancel out his worst.

Conversely, Klopp has shown Mourinho that the other method is more successful. Klopp has Sadio Mane, Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to use. He allows them to sprint at and through the opposition, and using wing-backs or full-backs of limited quality, they have permission to attack. They have 11 more league goals, have conceded 10 fewer, and are two points behind. They play knowing they can outscore their opponents on almost every occasion, and have the self-confidence and talent to do so. There is something much more exciting about wondering whether your club is going to win with the handbrake off, rather than worry if they will lose with their backs to the wall from the start.

Going by the table, the approaches are essentially as rewarding as each other, but football is only partially to do with statistics. Assuming Liverpool and United will both spend in the summer, Pogba will have to change his roles, and a new defence will have to settle in. At Liverpool, the only change should be in personnel, not tactics. Klopp can reasonably believe this is a less destructive plan for the medium and longer term.

While there are clear differences on the pitch, there are some similarities off it. Klopp and Mourinho can both be ruthless with their squads when they believe players can’t do what is required. Daniel Sturridge was understandably kept to the sidelines given his unreliability and fading talents. Henrikh Mkhitaryan demonstrated before and after his move to Arsenal that he was a player who really would be suited to playing for an indulgent Arsene Wenger rather than a manager who wants to win trophies.

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They both have their unpleasant sides, too. Mourinho has let himself down in telling ways in the past, like defending John Terry, calling Romelu Lukaku, ‘a beast,’ and his actions over Eva Carneiro, suggesting an unjustifiable outlook on society. He also has a history of confrontation, goading opposing players and managers, often as cruelly as it is amusingly. But, we know all that. Klopp’s unsavoury behaviour is largely ignored.

The Liverpool manager has a habit of bullying journalists and TV presenters when he doesn’t like a question, or when he is asked almost anything after a defeat. He sneers at and belittles them, and carries on as if his pre-match or post-victory ‘mateyness’ compensates for it. This doesn’t make Klopp a reprehensible person – nobody is perfect – but there is a double standard in operation given how much all managers can be unreasonably unpleasant from a position of power. Some Liverpool fans, happy to overlook Luis Suarez’s abuse of Patrice Evra to the point they continue to boo him as a West Ham player, are unsurprisingly happy to ignore a relatively minor character flaw in comparison, just as most United fans are happy to defend Mourinho’s attempts to limit their entertainment. Saturday’s match is a chance to put to the test which approach brings the greatest rewards.