Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said his Tottenham Hotspur counterpart Jose Mourinho “deserves more respect” as the duo prepares to renew their competition on Sunday.
Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino in training at Tottenham in November but faced varying fortunes with the team from North London after he led the team to only one victory in the last 5 Premier League matches, according to Reuters.
The Portuguese coach was sacked from his last two positions at Manchester United and Chelsea, and his playing plans have been criticized in recent months.
Guardiola dismissed criticism that Mourinho’s plans were “out of date”, compared to that of Liverpool coach Juergen Klopp.
Manchester City coach said on Friday: “The value of Jose, who has a great experience in training and achieved many successes, is not evaluated for one season or one and a half-season.”
He continued, “She faces good and difficult periods during the season, and she has to fix some things. For 15 and 20 years, he was always successful and we must all respect this. It is difficult for any coach to achieve all this success all the time.”
City, led by Guardiola, overtook United under Mourinho in two and a half seasons the Portuguese coach at Old Trafford, but the competition was less fierce than when the two coaches were leading Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Commenting on this, Guardiola said: “Maybe we have become more mature and experienced.”
