Mourinho Reflects On Win Over Boro

Jose Mourinho was delighted with his Manchester United players’ desire in the 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday.

In the Reds' third game in less than a week, goals from Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard and Antonio Valencia secured a vital three points, meaning Mourinho's men now climb above Arsenal into fifth place in the Premier League table.

Here are the main points from the manager’s post-match interviews with MUTV and BT Sport…

ANALYSIS OF THE MATCH
"The attitude, the desire and our way of thinking [was great]. We did not have A, B, C, D, E, F or G, but we have L, M, N, O, P and these guys gave absolutely everything. I think we started the game really well; Valdes made three fantastic saves before our first goal. We controlled everything before our second goal and they then changed to play with Gestede and Negredo. They started putting long balls in to the box. We decided to defend with an extra defender, but I think with the mistakes of letting them push us too much into our box. Then it was a fighting 15 minutes where they didn't have chances but they were close to the dangerous areas, so the game was alive until the last seconds."

ON HIS SELECTION CHOICES
"We had to think that [certain players] were fresh because they didn’t play and some played against Rostov so are tired. For example, I played Valencia in that [higher position] to protect him. Then Jones and Smalling were tired so I brought on an extra defender to give them a little bit of comfort and support. Mata, I knew could not play 90 minutes so we had to think about all these things at the same time. But the team was solid, compact and was very dangerous, especially in the first half before the goal. We had three big chances to score before the goal and I think we caused them lots of problems. It is normal they have a reaction; they are fighting for relegation for every point, but we deserved to win."

ON FATIGUE
"The winning is great for the group. But obviously today was too much for us. Rostov away, Chelsea with 10 men, Rostov again and now Middlesbrough with injured players, tired players, suspended players, but these guys today were magnificent. I was expecting this kind of answer. I knew that people like Ashley Young, Carrick, Fellaini - I knew that Fellaini played against Rostov and for 40 minutes he was amazing. His form his high. Ashley Young played against Rostov and at Stamford Bridge. I knew the guys were ready to answer. So it was very good; I think we played really well."

ON A PLEASING WEEK
"It is fantastic because we managed in the same week to go to the quarter-finals of the Europa League, which is an important competition for us, and at the same time we got these three points that keep us in the race for the fourth position. So we still have two doors open to play Champions League football next season and that is a good thing of the week."