Players find fighting spirit but did they really care about saving their manager?

JOSE MOURINHO will not give up without a fight and neither, it seems, will his players.

Much has been said over the past week about whether Mourinho has lost the Manchester United dressing room, most of it by the manager himself.

‘After 20 years of football, I am still naive and I still don’t believe that a player is not honest,’ he insisted on Monday. ‘If somebody tells them, “I was a football player and I didn’t give my best” then I change my opinion.’

There must have been moments in a calamitous first half here where Mourinho questioned his beliefs — when United capitulated timidly before the most mediocre of opposition and the fates conspired cruelly against him at a stunned Old Trafford.

No one would suggest that Marcus Rashford missed a point-blank header on purpose. Or Anthony Martial meant to keep passing to opponents. Or Mourinho’s team planned to grant Newcastle free passage to David de Gea’s goal twice in a catastrophic opening 10 minutes. But giving their ‘best’? If this was the best that United have to give then the £400million spent on Mourinho’s watch really is money down the drain.

As the first half ended to a chorus of boos, Mourinho quickened his stride to jog down the tunnel and no one could have forgiven him for not coming back. Then something happened. It would perhaps be too strong to suggest the players took it on themselves to scrap like hell to save their manager from the sack. The mood in camp has grown too downcast for that. He has upset so many and burned so many bridges, that when he has looked to them for help they have not been inclined to go above and beyond for a coach who used to engender such loyalty in his teams. But the United players suddenly found it within themselves to fight back against a side no doubt shocked to be in such a commanding position.

When Nemanja Matic blazed wide of a gaping goal, Mourinho wore the same look of amazement as he did when Rashford had headed wide.

But then Juan Mata, Martial (left) and Alexis Sanchez struck. All three are thought to have been at odds with Mourinho and yet here they were scoring to dig him out of the biggest of holes.

Suddenly at 3-2 and with the fourth official confirming five minutes of added time, jubilant fans sang his name for the first time all day.

It was some turnaround and one that spares the United hierarchy from a very awkward situation. Mourinho fights on for now.