• Manchester United manager says he is the victim of a manhunt • ‘Some of my players are not coping so well,’ he adds

José Mourinho took paranoia to a new level in the aftermath of Manchester United’s dramatic 3-2 win over Newcastle, complaining the last few days have felt like a manhunt and that “wickedness” is now spoiling a game that is supposed to be beautiful.

“A lot of things have been directed at me personally,” he said. “There is too much talking. I have begun to feel that if it rains in London tomorrow it is my fault. If people don’t like Brexit it is my fault. I have been blamed for extending my contract until 2020 but I didn’t point a pistol at the club, they wanted to give it to me. I am 55 years old now and I can live with it but some of my boys are not coping quite so well.

“I think a lot of wickedness and a clear manhunting that I think in football is too much. It’s my life, it’s a life I love, it’s a life I worked since I was a kid. I will love it until my last day.

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“In the first half against Newcastle every time a ball came into our box it seemed to lead to a goal. Marcus Rashford was scared on the pitch. Scott McTominay was scared on the pitch, they were making mistakes that were not normal.”

All seemed to have ended well when the substitute Alexis Sánchez put a month of indifferent form behind him to head home the winner and the Stretford End began chanting Mourinho’s name in a show of support, though even as the manager was expressing his distaste for personal scrutiny on television, Rio Ferdinand admitted on the same channel the use of the word manhunt had caused him to chuckle. “What does he expect, he’s the manager of Manchester United?” the former defender said. “If results are not going well there are bound to be questions asked.”

Those questions, plus a few newspaper reports on the eve of the game, had led to a widespread conviction Mourinho was about to lose his job during the international break, if not over the weekend. Senior United sources briefed selected contacts early on Saturday to insist that was not the case, though there was nothing in the form of a public statement that would have put the matter to bed.

A really poor performance against Newcastle could certainly have hastened Mourinho’s departure, and that was what the manager was looking at when opponents without a win this season skipped into a 2-0 lead, though a combination of shrewd substitutions and patient pressure produced three second‑half goals to rescue the situation.

By the final whistle Mourinho had not only received a vote of confidence from his public, people were praising a vintage United performance reminiscent of the fighting spirit shown under Sir Alex Ferguson. “The substitutions were not as important as the mentality we showed,” Mourinho said. “I think my players showed they wanted to win this match and we improved when Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic dropped deeper because we needed players with the technical quality to bring the ball out from the back.”

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Rafael Benítez did not disagree with that assessment. “We did well for 70 minutes, and we had chances to score the third goal that would probably have won us the game,” the Newcastle manager said. “But when they brought on fresh legs we knew we would be suffering. We were tired and we found ourselves defending crosses against seven players by the end. The quality they were able to call on from the bench made a big difference.”

Mourinho said he was surprised to hear the crowd chanting his name – “Actually I was amazed, but I don’t really want to hear that because it’s not about me, it’s about the club” – and compared the loyalty of United fans with that of Liverpool supporters when Chelsea scored four at Anfield when he first joined the London club.

“I couldn’t believe they were still singing their songs with that scoreline, and this was the same feeling,” he said. “I’m happier for the players and the fans than for myself, it is nice to be able to produce a response on the pitch. I’m glad Alexis came up with the winner as well. He’s a good professional, he has not been playing especially well but he’s kept working hard, and now he must have an amazing feeling after scoring a goal to top a great comeback.”