Jose had this to say about Rashford & Mata after Crystal Palace win

Manchester United showed great character in coming from 0-2 to win 3-2 at Crystal Palace in the second half on Monday night football.

We’d fallen two goals behind with efforts from Andros Townsend (11′) and Patrick van Aanholt (48′) before we started our fightback.

Chris Smalling headed home an Antonio Valencia cross 10 minutes into the second half before Romelu Lukaku showed good composure in turning home an effort with several defenders in front of him after Alexis Sanchez’s deflected effort came back off the bar.

In the first minute of stoppage time Nemanja Matic came up with a stunning 30-yard winner to pick up the three points that moves us back into second place and nine ahead of Chelsea in the battle for Champions League football next season.

After a lackluster first half performance, Jose Mourinho introduced Marcus Rashford for Scott McTominay at half-time and then Juan Mata for Antonio Valencia midway through the second half.

The substitutions proved key as Rashford and Mata helped pin Crystal Palace inside their own half and penalty area, ultimately cracking under pressure.

Jose was impressed by the performance of our substitutes and had this to say to MUTV after the game:

“I think Marcus [Rashford] was good and immediately he created dangerous situations and immediately he opened more space in between defenders. Our attacking players could make runs and penetrate in these gaps, so by the positional point of view, he was very good for us and then I think what I call the crazy right-back was also very important. We had to take the risks and [Jesse] Lingard as a right-back is this kind of crazy right-back that can make a defensive mistake by losing his position, but he can also be an extra man attacking other areas. I think it was difficult for them [Crystal Palace], Roy [Hodgson] saw it, he then brought [Alexander] Sorloth to play wide and try to cover him, but he was really aggressive and [Juan] Mata came to the inside so I think we created them a lot of problems in the second half.”

Next up is Liverpool at Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime.  Jurgen Klopp’s side are in excellent form and only avoiding defeat will see us remain in second place at the end of the weekend.