Despite Marcus Rashford seeing red and Paul Pogba missing a penalty, Mourinho dedicated the win to his executive vice chairman after fans had hired a plane to trail a banner saying: “Ed Woodward: specialist in failure.”
That was a reference to Woodward’s perceived failure to back Mourinho’s pursuit of central defensive targets in the summer.
But after Romelu Lukaku’s double has secured victory, Mourinho said: You know, in the match I’m not looking to the sky – unless I’m asking something for the guy to give me help.
“I didn’t see planes but Ed Woodward won this afternoon. He won 2-0. I am delighted but I think some of you [the media] must be disappointed because it would be much better if we lose.”
The victory was marred by Rashford’s dismissal for headbutting former Untied player Phil Bardsley, while Pogba’s spurned the chance to make it a more comfortable victory when his spot-kick was saved by Joe Hart.
Rashford, who will join up with England on Monday, will now serve a three-game ban for violent conduct and Mourinho blamed his naivety and impulsiveness for retaliating to a sly kick from the wily Bardsley.
Mourinho said: “I would say it was naive. It was a kid and a very experienced man. In that action the only thing I can say is that probably the experience of Bardsley, with 20 years of football, against the impulse and naivety of a guy that has been in top football for about three years but is still a young kid.
“Harsh? I don’t know, could get a yellow card for both and keep going.”
And he refused to criticise Pogba, who had scored penalties against Leicester and Brighton and said it was up to the World Cup winner whether he carries on taking them.
“I never blame a player for missing penalties. I blame the ones who refuse to go up there. Paul has scored some good ones for us,” he said.
Mourinho handed his coat to a fan at the end and again praised the supporters for making it “an easy week” after the home defeat by Tottenham.
Lukaku, who missed a great chance late in the game to complete his first hat-trick for United, said: “That was really big. In the last game we started well but didn’t take our chances. This time we did.
“We knew we had to grind out the result in the second half. We have character and we need to be more like that.
“The last game against Tottenham – we were disappointed. Today we did score and we have to keep winning to try and catch the teams above us.
“Now we go into the international break and can switch off a bit. The manager has time to analyse our performances for the rest of the games in September.”
When asked if Mourinho will let them ‘switch off’, Lukaku said: “Oh yeah. He’s totally different behind the scenes and he’ll allow us to.”
On his penalty save, Hart said: “Paul’s good at what he does. He’s a player who likes to feel what he does. He makes decisions late. That’s his game, I checked his run up. I’ve got my own technique against players like that and it worked.
“Frustrating is the word. I thought United played well first half. It’s an awful excuse but we were tired and they were on it.”