Manchester United to stand by José Mourinho after encouraging first half performance

Manchester United lost 3-0 to Tottenham Hotspur last night

Despite this embarrassing result - Mourinho's biggest ever home defeat as a manager - Manchester United have reportedly decided to stick by their manager, according to the Guardian's Jamie Jackson. Mourinho switched up his tactics for last night's game against Spurs, deploying Ander Herrera in an unfamiliar position of right centre-back, with Jesse Lingard in a free role behind Romelu Lukaku. The United board were apparently encouraged by the team's response to last week's defeat to Brighton, as the team played with a high intensity for the first 45 minutes against Spurs. The second half was less impressive, as Spurs stepped up a level and put two quick goals past United, all but ending the game. Lucas Moura then grabbed his second of the game late on to compound United's misery. But United have decided not to pull the trigger on José Mourinho, despite poor form and a fractious relationship between him and the club's executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward. There were some positives to take from the game, such as Luke Shaw's impressive performance at left wing-back. The Englishman has not always been favoured by Mourinho but was congratulated by the Portuguese on the final whistle for his efforts throughout the game. Shaw was more concerned about arresting this poor run of form though, telling MUTV: I don’t really care about my performance, I care more about the result and the team." “It is a sad night for us. We have just got to pick ourselves back up, keep working hard and we need to pick up points, especially after two losses." “We need to win and win in a good way because we played really well in the first half and if we keep playing like that, and take our chances, then we will win games.”