Jose Mourinho refusing to get carried away by Manchester United's comeback at Crystal Palace

The United manager insisted his side's performance was tainted by 'big mistakes'

Jose Mourinho added that his side got lucky (Getty)

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho refused to get too carried away by his side’s stirring victory over Crystal Palace on Monday evening, stressing that their 3-2 win was a “fantastic comeback — but with mistakes”.

United were trailing Palace by two goals at the beginning of the second-half, after a powerful Patrick van Aanholt finish from close-range added to Andros Townsend’s deflected opener.

But despite playing poorly for long periods, United fought back. Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku got the side back onto level terms, before a stunning injury-time half-volley from Nemanja Matic won the match for the away team.

The win sees United leap back above Liverpool into second place in the Premier League table, but a contemplative Mourinho was careful not to get too carried away with the comeback win in his post-match press conference.

“I have to admit we got a bit lucky,” he said of his side’s late win. “And it was a fantastic comeback but with some big mistakes.

“In the end we needed that little bit of luck in the last minute. Of course to play away from home against a team who really needs the points is hard, but we kept the faith and belief. And we made some important changes.

“We also have to recognise that Palace did very well — Roy [Hodgson] was aggressive and clever, and he went direct and tried to bring the emotion of the game to his team. So there were a lot of dangers, but in the end I would say that we deserved it.”

Unlike Hodgson — who stubbornly refused to make a substitution until he brought on Jaïro Riedewald for Jeffrey Schlupp in the 80th minute, and did not make any more thereafter — Mourinho’s substitutions contributed greatly to changing the game.

At half-time he replaced Scott McTominay with the superb Marcus Rashford, while Juan Mata and Luke Shaw also made important contributions from the bench.

But it was Rashford who particularly caught the eye of Mourinho.

“Marcus was good,” he said of the forward, whose World Cup chances he has recently been talking up. “He immediately created several dangerous situations.

“He helped to open up lots more spaces in between their defenders, where our attacking players could make runs. So he was very good for us.”


 Matic celebrates his late winner for United 
 (Getty)

Hodgson was meanwhile left to rue yet another injury-time horror show, just days after a late Harry Kane header robbed them of their chance to claim an impressive point against Tottenham Hotspur.

“I feel sadness as tonight I saw a group of players give their all for the club,” he said.

“To come away with nothing from the game, as we did against Tottenham, I feel very sad for them. But I am proud of the performance and I can’t criticise any player.

“We were disciplined tactically. And then in the very last minute of the game the ball falls kindly and Matic scores a worldy. If that hadn’t gone in we would be speaking about a good performance and a good point. But everything changes. The analysis now changes.”