Mourinho: Players need time to forget Van Gaal’s methods

With Wayne Rooney dropped, captain for the day Chris Smalling blasted in a header in the 22nd minute to go one goal up.

Opposing manager had puzzled many by withdrawing Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, arguably two of the Foxes’ best players, at halftime with the team trailing.

After United had ended a run of three successive defeats and, despite a spirited but brief Leicester attempt at a comeback, Mourinho said it was all about the start.

Pressed further after the match for his thinking behind the big call, Mourinho is quoted by BBC Sport as saying: “He’s my man, I trust him completely”. If I don’t play [Jesse] Lingard, you ask me why.

“I made the changes at halftime because the game had gone and I preferred to keep them for the next game”, he said.

When asked before the match why Rooney was on the bench and whether it was a response to his poor play over the last few weeks, Mourinho was adamant that it had nothing to do with form. I always say one thing: It’s at the end we will see. The first part has been fantastic for the “Red Devils”, who have scored four goals.

“We have to carry on doing what we did today”.

Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Pogba – who netted for the first time since returning to Old Trafford – all scored in a chaotic 10-minute climax to the first period. We had a good dynamic defensively, and we were very strong against an opponent who are easy to analyse, but hard to cope with.

“We all want more from him and from the team”.

He said: “I’m very happy for the result and for this goal”. But we thought today against a team like Leicester, the way they defend, the profile of their defenders, we thought that the best solution for us was to play with the two fast kids and Mata in a position where he can interact with these young kids.

He told Sky Sports: “It’s unbelievable what happened because we started very well and for the first 20 minutes it was our match”.

The way they played on Saturday, it looked like Leicester City players had been out celebrating last season’s Premier League title until the wee hours of Friday night. “We are winning, so we have four victories and 12 points”.

“(Zlatan Ibrahimovic) Ibra played absolutely incredible in the way he started our pressure.