Jose Mourinho doesn't need to stress about Manchester United fans booing at Old Trafford... he needs to worry about Pep Guardiola's flying squad

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An appeal for calm? Jose Mourinho is a very optimistic soul if he thinks tranquillity can reign at Manchester United this season.

His finger-to-the-lips gesture, made directly down the lens of the nearest camera on the final whistle, was Mourinho’s way of reminding those inside and outside the club that there is a distance to go, that one draw or one defeat in October does not spell ruination.

‘Enjoy the football,’ he said. ‘Don’t speak all the time so much, anticipating scenarios, trying to put pressure on people.’

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho put his fingers to his lips at full-time on Saturday

Good luck with that, however, in this of all seasons. Good luck when the early bolters are Manchester City, as guided by Pep Guardiola. City are amplifying everything, every slip, the smallest mis-step, each tiny failing.

Do you think United’s dour draw at Liverpool would have attracted such negativity were it not for the vibrancy of Manchester City’s football? Do you think the defeat at Huddersfield would have been viewed as a catastrophe had City not embarked on a relentless winning run since August 21? Will it stop after this?

How can it when Manchester United’s next league fixture is a visit to Chelsea, the champions, where City won so impressively in September. If they achieve what would once have been a creditable draw, it will now be viewed as two points dropped on the league leaders. Conversationalists are not putting pressure on Mourinho and United. City are. And while this blue streak continues, that grip will not relent.

Against Tottenham, United handled it admirably. Ordinary for much of the first half — they started brightly but faded — United improved in the second and had shaded the game by the end.

Romelu Lukaku hit a post with a header two minutes before he sent Anthony Martial through, and the substitute defeated Hugo Lloris in Tottenham’s goal.

It was vindication for Mourinho too, after sections of the crowd derided his decision to introduce Martial for Marcus Rashford, at that stage United’s most eye-catching forward. He wasn’t sure if they were booing Martial’s introduction, Rashford’s contribution or the fact Lukaku was still on the field, but he didn’t take kindly to any of it.

The Portuguese boss barks instructions at Old Trafford as Antonio Valencia takes a throw-in

‘I would like the supporters to explain why they don’t support Lukaku so much, because he gives everything,’ he said. ‘I think it is not fair when scoring the goal or not scoring the goal makes the whole difference.

‘I really don’t understand some reactions. Are they Red Devils? Sometimes I don’t know because the strikers work amazingly well. We had two playing against three top central defenders, the best we have in Europe, and they had to do the defensive job. The strikers gave us solutions to get out of the pressure, to win first balls, to win second balls, their work was amazing.

‘But they pay the ticket so they can do what they want. They can boo a player that doesn’t deserve to be booed; they can boo a player who is working like an animal.’

He pronounced ‘animal’ with an initial ‘h’, the way Sir Alf Ramsey once did when describing the play of Argentina, and there is much of Ramsey in the way Mourinho sees football. The end justifying the means as it did on Saturday when Tottenham saw more of the ball and, in spells, looked as if they might inflict a guard-changing win, even without Harry Kane.

Just three minutes before United took the lead Tottenham could have scored through Dele Alli, but this was not to be the milestone result against a title contender that Mauricio Pochettino had hoped for. The bottom line this morning is that Tottenham are a single point ahead of Arsenal, a team perceived by their neighbours to be in crisis.

This was the week Tottenham could prove they were not, as Guardiola had it, the Harry Kane team. Yet with Kane absent, they have recorded back-to-back defeats for the first time since February.

This was far from a poor performance but the outcome was unhelpful for a team looking to expand their repertoire. Looking at the squads of the Manchester clubs, Tottenham may struggle to keep pace unless Kane can stay fit. They do not have the depth of their rivals in the forward line. Mourinho could replace Lukaku with Rashford or Rashford with Martial. Guardiola chooses between Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus. Kane’s direct replacement is Fernando Llorente, a player Pochettino chose not to start at Old Trafford, preferring to push forward Son Heung-min.

Mourinho was vindicated in his decision to introduce Anthony Martial as a late substitute

‘It’s a little unfair to talk about depth in our squad because if Alli had scored then we would be speaking in a different way,’ Pochettino insisted. Yet if Alli had scored would that have brought Llorente closer to Kane in popular imaginations? No. It would have meant Tottenham had found a way to win without Kane, not that they had found an alternate nine of similar quality.

There is a gulf between Kane and his deputy that does not exist for Mourinho and Guardiola and is the reason the striker is being nursed through his hamstring injury.

To push him, and risk a more serious strain, could be fatal to Tottenham’s ambitions. This is one scenario Pochettino must anticipate, as dark as the prospect might be.