Mourinho: “It’s beautiful to play at Anfield”

The old master of mind games is at it again. In a transparent attempt to trick Liverpool fans into keeping quiet on Saturday, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has claimed that it is “beautiful” to play in front of “big atmospheres”.

I am surprised that you speak about that in a negative way and I am even more surprised when you see former big players speak about atmospheres like they are something sinister, something that worries us. It motivates us. It's something that we want. It's something that, if we could have every match, we would have it every match.

Clever old Jose. They won’t want to give you anything. Let’s look forward to a gently murmured ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, a background hum of chatter, and then a brief, polite spattering of applause at the end. It’s going to be a calm one, kids. Maybe bring a book.

Other stuff from the press conference:

— Michael Carrick is injured. As such, Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic are United’s only two fit central midfielders, unless Daley Blind gets bumped back into the middle from left-back/the bench.

— But Romelu Lukaku is fine. So that’s nice.

— No word on Phil Jones. But isn’t it nice to be worried that he’ll miss a game, not worried that he’ll end up playing. Good work, Phil. Good work, Jose.