‘I was staggered’: Glenn Hoddle taken aback by what he saw Jose Mourinho do this week

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Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily Podcast, Glenn Hoddle has shared how shocked he was by Jose Mourinho’s behaviour after Tottenham’s game against Liverpool earlier this week.

Mourinho allowed himself to get very worked up by Jurgen Klopp during the game, and he went on something of a bizarre tirade after the game, saying that the better team lost and that Klopp should be punished by the officials.

Hoddle believes that Mourinho let his emotions get the better of him on this occasion, and he’s explained that he was surprised by it because Mourinho is usually good at keeping himself together.

“I was staggered, I really was, because I that was just an emotional reaction, so late in the game, he’s thinking well, we’ve set the team out, I’ll take a point,” Hoddle said about Mourinho’s post-match behaviour.

“We try to win every game he says, but they do it the way they want to do it, on the counter against Liverpool, and against the top teams, that’s how we’re going to see it with Tottenham.

“But I think he’s thinking a point is still going to be a very good point, you know we’ve got Liverpool later on in the season, and then bang, from a set play, it was a fantastic header I’ve got to say from Firmino.

“I think it was the reaction, it was an emotional reaction, I caught the bit that JJ (Jermaine Jenas) was saying, normally he’s calculated, he’s thinking about it when he goes into a press conference or a post-match, this was just a reaction. I think that when you’ve just lost a game like that you’ve got to take it on the chin and you’re on the back foot.”

Hoddle is spot on here.

The Tottenham manager has shown himself up a little bit with these comments, and it seems as though Klopp has really got in his head.

Mourinho is experienced enough to know that mind games are a part and parcel of football, especially in a title race, but it seems as though he’s losing that battle to Klopp at the moment.

If he wants Tottenham to be contenders for the Premier League title, he can’t let his emotions continue to get the better of him, especially when he knows how much media scrutiny can come along with it.