Can’t a couple of football managers show some appreciation and praise for a fellow professional without everyone thinking there’s some kind of ulterior motive to everything?
In this case, the answer to that seems to be a resounding no. It seems that Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have established themselves as the top managers in the league for now, so most things that they say will receive extra scrutiny.
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These comments from Jurgen Klopp have raised some eyebrows on Twitter among the Man United support:
Klopp: “I am full of admiration for the work Ole is doing, this season in particular, given what he tries to juggle. As a fellow manager it is easy to see the progress they make, although others on the outside are often not so quick to recognise.” #mufc [LFC]
— United Xtra (@utdxtra) January 19, 2020
It’s completely plausible that he’s just showing some support and appreciation for his fellow manager who is going through a tough time just now, but these fans seem to think there’s a highly cynical reason for the comments:
If Klopp or Pep praise your manager you know they’re terrible btw
Only criticise managers that can beat them
— Tom (@_UtdTom) January 19, 2020
Klopp trying to give Ole a 5 yr contract you hate to see it!??
— YanitedMS? (@MadMasonMS) January 19, 2020
Klopp is the Manager of our Grwatest ever Rivals, you think he really want us to succeed.
Plus
– Klopp came into Liverpool being a x3 Bundesliga Champion not a failed Cardiff Manager.– From day1 we could see the style of football he wanted to play with.
— MIchael (@MMartialx) January 19, 2020
Exact same as pep, praise him to the fullest because he’ll never be a threat
— ? (@Sarrista__) January 19, 2020
People really think that a Liverpool manager wants us to sack Ole? A Liverpool manager? What a bunch of naive fans. With Ole at United, they know Man United will never rival them. It’s like Fergie saying that Hodgson was doing just fine.
— AOA (@opitza) January 19, 2020
Klopp is becoming conniving cos he knows ole is a useless punk n he wldnt get a title challenge from him in any way. Hes happy united goin down like this
— Lawrence Roberts (@loxionworld) January 19, 2020
It does seem unlikely that Klopp is being this cunning, you have to think he’s just trying to be complimentary to Solskjaer and he would rather avoid any controversy in the media with negative comments.
It’s also easy to understand that United fans might be getting a bit worked up, they face Liverpool today in the knowledge that a narrow defeat might be the best they can hope for, so it’s only natural to be pessimistic about everything.
Despite all of this, Solskjaer does have an okay record against the bigger teams, but it’s tough to see United taking anything from this one.