Southampton boss Ronald Koeman defends Chelsea's Jose Mourinho

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has defended under-fire Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.

The 52-year-old Portuguese has been criticised this week for his team’s “gamesmanship” – a tactic of attempting to influence referees for favourable decisions.

Koeman, who worked with the Blues boss under Louis van Gaal at Barcelona and considers himself a close friend, admits Mourinho likes to play games but insists the public only gets to see one side of his persona.

"In my opinion he's a nice person but I've got the possibilities to have time to talk about different things in life,” Koeman said ahead their clash at Stamford Bridge on Super Sunday.

“Maybe your opinion is different than if you see someone on the television. Maybe one side is what he likes to say or what he likes to do after the game. The other is the relationship between two people.

"I think that's the difference but sometimes he is playing a game. Everybody knows that but if it is done in a respectful way then I don't have problems with that.

“He's a great person and a very successful manager. He always has a good spirit in his teams. If you speak to players who have worked with Mourinho, they are always very positive about it and impressed with the way he does his job.

"In every sport and every business if you are one of the top managers then you have to live with critics, both negative and positive but if you look at his CV, it tells you enough.”

Chelsea v Southampton is live on Sky Sports 1HD from 1pm on Super Sunday