What Jose Mourinho wrote in his notepad and how it helped Manchester United beat Liverpool

Jose Mourinho was spotted scribbling furiously in his notepad during the first half of Manchester United’s victory over Liverpool.

The Sky Sports cameras zoomed in on the Special One as he wrote out some instructions in his book in preparations for his half-time team talk.

Mourinho is one of a number of bosses who find putting pen to a paper a useful management tool.

He recently scrawled down a brief note that was handed to midfielder Nemanja Matic during a win over Chelsea to inform him he was being rewarded with days off.

However, giving his players time off at that stage of the Liverpool match couldn’t have been further from Mourinho’s mind as he devised a battle plan.

Thanks to some extensive image rendering, courtesy of those Sky pictures, Mourinho’s thought processes as he masterminded the win have been revealed.

And it would appear his tactics were carried out perfectly by his team.

Mourinho’s writing is difficult to read but a reference to second balls is clearly visible, as is the term Rom, which is likely to represent Romelu Lukaku.

AS IT HAPPENED: Manchester United v Liverpool

IN PICTURES: Manchester United v Liverpool

Those two elements combined for United’s first goal as Lukaku won a knockdown and Marcus Rashford latched onto the second ball before smashing it home.

Surely that can’t be a coincidence and Mourinho’s note taking is an example of how he spotted a weakness in the Liverpool defence and exploited it to gain victory.