Jose Mourinho explained that Manchester United's move to a back three in Tuesday night's Carabao Cup win over Swansea was partially a protection measure for under-fire defender Victor Lindelof.

The £30million summer recruit from Benfica has taken time to adapt to life at Old Trafford, and came in for criticism over his performance during the weekend defeat to Huddersfield.

However, with both Phil Jones and Eric Bailly struggling with injuries, Lindelof was again at centre-back for the 2-0 win over the Swans, where Jesse Lingard scored twice.

Lindelof played on the right of Chris Smalling, with youngster Axel Tuanzebe to the left of the England man.

According to Mourinho, handing both players extra protection and looking to boost the Swede's confidence was behind the decision to switch formation.

Lindelof has had a difficult start to life at Old Trafford (
Image:
Man Utd via Getty Images)
Lindelof put in an assured performance at the Liberty Stadium (
Image:
AFP/Getty Images)
Tuanzebe also started in a three-man back line (
Image:
Action Images via Reuters)

"The kids are always the kids so when they play it is nice, it is good, when they perform well it is even better," Mourinho told MUTV. "I think they both had good performances especially Scott, who has a big influence in the game in a crucial area.

"Behind I tried to give Axel good protection. I decided to play with three because Victor was not coming with his confidence levels very, very high, so I decided to play both with the experience of Smalling and we were ok.

"It was good for the players to get confidence."

United legend Ryan Giggs has spoken of his belief that Lindelof needs time to adjust, citing his former United teammates Nemanja Matic and Patrice Evra as examples.

"Some players come to the Premier League and bed in straight away and others can take six months or even a year, as it was for Patrice Evra, Jaap Stam and Nemanja Vidic, and they went on to be unbelievable players."

poll loading

Will Victor Lindelof be a success in the Premier League?

25000+ VOTES SO FAR