Plus: Liverpool don't get credit they deserve, and Spurs haven't improved under Jose Mourinho
Tuesday 14 January 2020 10:57, UK
Paul Merson feels Jurgen Klopp is so good he could get Rotherham into the Premier League, and also insists Tottenham haven't improved under Jose Mourinho.
This is a phenomenal football team, who I don't think get the credit they should.
People say: "Oh, Manchester City haven't done very well this season," but this team is very good.
I'm a great lover of Jurgen Klopp. I could use any team here, but I'm just going to say Rotherham… I think Klopp could go to Rotherham and take them to the Premier League in time. He's that good.
He gets players in and plays them the right way. They don't have household names. Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, Fabinho. People talk about the full-backs, but if those three don't play, I don't think it actually works as well for Liverpool.
I know Pep Guardiola's record is great, don't get me wrong, but every player is £80m, £90m in every position. I haven't seen anybody at Manchester City become much, much better, they were already great players.
You watch them against Tottenham, they were 1-0 up and they still bomb forward, it's in their make-up, and they can defend.
When you can defend like that, you're always going to dictate football matches.
Why are Liverpool not favourites to win the Champions League? They've been at two straight finals. Manchester City haven't even looked like winning it, and they are favourites.
I don't think Liverpool get the respect they should get; this is the best team in Europe by some distance.
If you want to beat them, you need two or three goals. They don't go to park the bus. I can only really see Man City beating them.
Where are Tottenham? Well, they're eighth.
Are they improving? No, they're not.
I think Mourinho's trying to get his team defensively-minded like his old Chelsea side. Hard to beat, and making sure they don't lose football matches before they win them.
He can't live with winning 3-2 every week. He'll want a lot of changes in that team; this is not his team.
I thought Mauricio Pochettino had earned enough brownie points to see the bad run out. I thought it was harsh, a bit of a panic.
Don't get me wrong, he was one of the best managers I'd ever seen. One thing he does, is hit the ground running, and treated the first game like it was the last game. I think they've gone to get Mourinho to get them in the top four, and I think it has backfired.
If they don't get into the top four this year, I think it's worrying times for Tottenham.
