Jose Mourinho heaps praise on United’s three whipping boys

Jose Mourinho reckons he absolutely nailed it with his gameplan for Sunday's crucial victory over Burnley.

Mourinho made a number of changes to the starting XI for last weekend's clash as Victor Lindelof returned to the team at the expense of Phil Jones while Alexis Sanchez and Marouane Fellaini also started at Turf Moor. Manchester United raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to a first-half brace from Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford's late red card mattered little as the result was already firmly in the bag. Mourinho was full of praise for his players in the wake of the win and reserved particular acclaim for what he referred to as his "crucial triangle." Speaking to ManUtd.com, Mourinho said:

"The pace with the ball and the organisation without the ball [was very good]. "Also the tactical approach, the concentration of a crucial triangle – Fellaini, Lindelof and Smalling – the creativity in midfield and then the intensity moving the ball. "And in the last 10/15 minutes even when we played at less speed and at less intensity for the counter-attack I thought the performance was very good."

United now sit in 10th place in the table after two wins and two defeats from their opening four Premier League games. They will travel to Watford after the international break and Mourinho will need a repeat of his side's performance against Burnley if he is to bring an end to the Hornets' 100 per cent record this term.

"Everything [pleased me]. The first 10 minutes were the mirror of the game. So fast, so creative, even I can say so beautiful, but we lost three chances in the first 10 minutes and I think that was the mirror of the game," Mourinho continued. "We managed to score two goals which was enough to win, but it shouldn’t just be two, it should be three, four, five, six. We should have scored before we scored the goals and we should have scored the penalty that would kill the game and also the best chances after the penalty. "Even with 10 men, the team was really strong in every aspect of the game."