Jose Mourinho has insisted that he always had faith in Marouane Fellaini after the Belgian starred in Manchester United’s 4-0 win over Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.
Manchester United made a rapid start and scored within the first three minutes after Marcus Rashford turned Joel Ward inside out on the left flank and his dangerous ball inside the box found Juan Mata, who calmly put the ball in Wayne Hennessey’s bottom left hand corner to give the lead to the home side.
From there on Manchester United dominated the ball and threatened to score more but Crystal Palace had the moments in the first half, with Mamadou Sakho putting a header over David de Gea’s goal and the Spaniard made his first save just after half an hour when Bacary Sako’s shot forced him into making a comfortable block.
But as Crystal Palace looked to be finding a foothold in the game, Manchester United scored the second goal after Ashley Young put in a sumptuous ball inside the box from the left flank, which Fellaini calmly slotted in to put the home side into a comfortable position going into the second half.
Manchester United began the second half as they started the match and scored within two minutes of the break when Rashford’s driven free kick found Fellaini’s head inside the penalty box, and the Belgian glanced in a header to score his second and the home side’s third goal of the afternoon.
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The away side enjoyed more of the ball in the second half, but created little and Manchester United always looked a threat on the counter as Romelu Lukaku missed a golden opportunity to get on the scoresheet in the 70th minute.
Sako looked lively in attack for Palace after the break and had a couple of half chances, but it was Manchester United who again came close to scoring when Anthony Martial forced Hennessey into making a great save in the last ten minutes.
And Lukaku finally got his goal in the closing stages when good work from Jesse Lingard and Martial on the left allowed him to tap in the fourth goal of the afternoon for Manchester United and his eleventh for the season.
Mourinho stressed that despite all the goals winning the three points and controlling the game were the most important aspects of his team’s performance against Palace.
Asked about the most pleasing thing about the display, the Manchester United manager told BBC’s Match of the Day programme: "Three points and a good performance.
"We started strong and we finished strong. We rotated. We won and that's the most important thing.”
The Manchester United manager admits that some of his players were tired from their trip to Russia and he was forced into making changes to his team because of injuries but he is happy that his team prevailed
"I had concerns. Palace had one week to prepare. They lost players during the week. We had to play In Russia. I had to make changes. The mentality allowed me to do that. Everybody wants to play.
"I could see the difference between Mkhitaryan and Fellaini. Mkhitaryan played and Fellaini didn't in Russia
"The momentum is good and the players are happy and confident."
Fellaini, who struggled in his initial years at Manchester United, has been shining under Mourinho and has already surpassed his tally in the Premier League over the last two seasons with three goals in the current campaign.
And the Manchester United manager insisted that he has been putting his faith in the Belgian since his first day at the club and stressed the importance of his presence in the squad.
"I always trusted Marouane since day one and try to give him confidence and show him how useful he is for the team."
