Manchester United supremo hails Jose Mourinho for a great season even before FA Cup win over Tottenham

ED WOODWARD told Jose Mourinho he had delivered a great season – even if Manchester United lost to Tottenham.

Many commentators have claimed the Special One needs some silverware from this campaign to consider it successful.

But behind the scenes it appears they are extremely happy with the Portuguese’s work despite fan dissent.

Following the comeback win, Mourinho told the BBC: “I had this morning one simple SMS from one of my bosses, Ed Woodward.

“And he was saying, ‘I believe we are going to win but if we don’t the season is a good season. The season is a season where everybody was professional and everybody is trying to bring the club in the right direction.’ And that’s my feeling too.”

Reflecting on the game itself, Mourinho admitted his side were being outplayed early on.

But the former Porto and Chelsea chief hailed his players for turning things around and controlling the game – even without possession.

Mourinho added: “I think the players deserve and when you deserve, especially against a team like Spurs, I think is even more important.

UN-UNITED Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has split dressing room and faces player backlash

“I think the game was very good, the game to be good needs two or three good things and I think we had three very good things.

“I think the interesting thing was both teams tried to start very strong, very aggressive, they were better than us, they scored, they had a period where we lost a bit of control in midfield.

“But then good reaction, good football, good goal, in the second-half, good brain, good organisation, very confident, very calm and very much in control even when Spurs had the ball.

“The second-half was quite calm because we were with the feeling it was going to be very difficult to lose the game and most probably we would win it.”