Oops he did it again.
Only a day after Jose Mourinho was snapped with a whiteboard behind him seeming to outline his preferred formation and supposedly including the name of Paul Pogba, another photographic gaff may have provided a further insight into his thought-process as Manchester United’s new manager.
The club is currently in China, preparing for their two games tour against local rivals Manchester City and Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund. But whilst it was all smiles on the training pitch in Shanghai, Jose may not be smiling once he realises that his private notes have been made very public indeed.
Someone zoom in on his clipboard! pic.twitter.com/1SCp6xZaTn
— Tifo Football (@TifoFootball_) July 20, 2016
We decided to use the latest technology (Adobe Photoshop) to blow up the image and decipher exactly what Mourinho had scribbled on his clipboard. It’s safe to say that what we discovered was a telling indication of the Portuguese’s immediate plans for returning United to former glories.
What we’ve done here is use a technique called ‘Image Rotation’. Don’t worry if a lot of this is going over your head, but in case you were wondering, the photograph has been turned 90 degrees clockwise…
Now let’s do what we refer to in the industry as ‘zooming in’…
This may not look like much – just a really blurred image of indistinguishable scrawls – but that’s because you’re not professionals like us. We’ve used all the expertise in the office (and a lot of squinting) to work out exactly what it says. And here it is…
If you can’t quite make it out, it reads:
ale and poo. gulf  a lemonade
Fortitude few  pram I’d doubt!
eating it
bling/taboo
Fascinating we’re sure you’ll agree. Of course the exact meaning of these notes is a matter of conjecture, but we think we’ve cracked it. Basically, ‘ale and poo’ refers to how disjointed United were last season – playing as if they were drunk, in a style that was constipated.
There is a ‘gulf’ in class that the side will have to overcome, and they’ll need to show all effervescence and fizzy energy of ‘a lemonade’ to do it. No more static play or rigid formations.
‘Fortitude few’ should worry the current squad. Jose is basically saying that a very few of the personnel he has inherited exhibit the fighting spirit he demands of his players. As for ‘Pram I’d doubt!’, it will concern United fans that the new boss places so little emphasis on youth development at the club.
That said, the note ‘eating it’ is clear expression of how hungry the former Chelsea manager is for success at Old Trafford, whilst ‘bling/taboo’ is a veiled message to the likes of Memphis Depay and Adnan Januzaj to focus on their performances on the pitch rather than the spoils of success off it.
Perhaps Mourinho will be a little more careful in future – especially with our expert eyes on his every move!
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