Leicester City manager, Brendan Rodgers has said that those criticizing Tottenham Hotspurs manager, Jose Mourinho are mostly the ones that have never been on the sidelines and that is a lack of respect.
Rodgers was the youth and reserve-team manager at Chelsea.during Mourinho’s first stint. The Portuguese won three Premier League titles with the Blues.
Before replacing Mauricio Pochentino in November, Spurs were 12th in the Premier League in November. But the Portuguese has lifted them into seventh, raising the prospect of playing European football next season with two games remaining.
Mourinho’s playing style and tactics are often criticized because they perceived as negative. He has been facing the same criticism since joining the North London club as well.
“Jose is a world-class manager. He has been until this point of his career and will continue to be that. It (criticism) is a lack of respect and normally from people that have never stood on this sideline.
“OK, football continues to evolve and change, but you still have room for different types of football.”
While nothing that the former Real Madrid coach is a master at getting his teams organized, difficult to beat, and winning, the former Liverpool manager said different philosophies and identities of managers exist, and there’s no right or wrong on the tactics adopted to get results.
“He’s proven over many years that he’s such a successful manager and he’ll be looking to bring success to Tottenham. His longevity in the game, what he’s done, and what he continues to do deserves a huge amount of respect.”
Foxes continue Champions League quest as Rodgers meets Mourinho again
Leicester is occupying the final playoff spot of the Champions League and they are looking to qualify for the competition again for the second time in their history. The first was after winning the Premier League in 2015 and they progressed beyond the group stage.
The Foxes are level on points with Manchester United and the two sides will meet on the final weekend.
They will continue the quest today as Rodger will be making his first visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. With Ben Chilwell and James Maddison ruled out for the rest of the season, they might be lacking some input in their team.
Rodgers, who pointed out that guiding Leicester to Champions League qualification would be one of the biggest achievements of his career said: “It would certainly be up there. At Liverpool, it was about getting the club back in the Champions League. At Celtic, it was a different challenge but we did good work there too.
“Coming here’s a different challenge because there’s not that expectancy. There’s an ambition of course, and the challenge of bringing a team into the top six.
“We’ve been able to do that in our first full season and now we have a chance over a couple of games to go even better than that and arrive in the top four.
“But if we didn’t get in the top four it would still be an absolutely brilliant season for us.”
After recovering from 4-1 demolition against Bournemouth, Leicester bounced back with a 2-0 win against Sheffield United on Thursday.
A victory against Spurs will put them in good stead ahead of the final day showdown against United.
