After back-to-back 4-0 victories to start the Premier League for Manchester United, manager José Mourinho admitted it was important to him to see how his players will react to conceding and losing.

The Reds opened their campaign with a dominating thrashing of West Ham United and, though the performance was less convincing, ran away with the game against Swansea City, scoring three goals after the 80-minute mark.

Mourinho: Man Utd players must be judged on ability to react

It's been plain sailing so far for Man United. Their new signings have settled well, Romelu Lukaku has scored three league goals in two games, and underperforming players last season are in wonderful form: think Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Anthony Martial.

But, Mourinho insisted he needs to see how his side responds to a blow given their lofty status at this moment.

"The word that describes better the team now is confidence. The team is confident, the team starts the game confident, the team starts the second half confident. But I want to see the way we emotionally react to losing it because it’s also another stage - be losing and try to change a result because in this moment everything is going in our favour," the Portuguese said.

Mourinho: It won't always be plain sailing

"You know, it’s not always motorway. You always find difficult roads and we have to be ready."

United face another game they should be winning next weekend, at home to Leicester City. But it will indeed be interesting to see the character of this side given they are yet to encounter any obstacles in the league so far.

However, the United squad bounced back emphatically from a defeat to Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup ahead of the start of the league season. On the back of that loss, they thrashed Swansea 4-0 and played some excellent football.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Harry Robinson
Deputy Editor-in-Chief at VAVEL UK, and Manchester United Editor.