Mourinho: What I thought of Young and Fellaini in Man United's win over Middlesbrough

JOSE MOURINHO insisted he knew his players could deliver in Manchester United's win over Middlesbrough.

Manchester United boss Jose MourinhoGETTY

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho praised Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young after beating Boro

Manchester United were without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Daley Blind and Ander Herrera for the clash at the Riverside.

But they took the lead through Marouane Fellaini before Jesse Lingard's terrific strike doubled his side's lead after the break.

Rudy Gestede pounced on a Chris Smalling error to pull one back for Boro, but Antonio Valencia capitalised on Victor Valdes' slip to add a third in stoppage time.

And Mourinho insisted he knew his players could step up in the absence of the big names. 

Marouane FellainiGETTY

Marouane Fellaini opened the scoring for Man United at Middlesbrough

"The meaning is great for the group," Mourinho told MUTV.

"So many players not playing. Obviously many people thought today would be very hard for us but the answer was magnificent. I was expecting this kind of answer. 

"I knew people like Ashley Young, [Michael] Carrick, Fellaini could deliver. 

"Fellaini played the other day against Rostov and for 40 minutes he was amazing so his form is high. 

"Young played in Rostov and played at Stamford Bridge [against Chelsea] so I knew the guys were the answer. 

"So it was very good. I think we played really well until 2-0. 

"When they played direct football they brought Gestede on and they started pushing us back. 

"And we accepted that because I brought an extra central defender to cope with it. But it was difficult until the end."

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