Mourinho: Manchester United were not in hell after bad start and not in heaven now

Jose Mourinho has stressed Manchester United always remained calm after their underwhelming start to the season and are not getting carried away by their good run of form.

The Old Trafford side initially struggled to get going under Mourinho, but they are currently on a 13-game unbeaten streak in all competitions, winning their last seven.

“When you have a run of two or three months winning, winning, winning at the beginning it is paradise,” Mourinho told reporters.

“Everybody is friendly with everybody. Everybody hugs everybody and everybody kisses everybody.

“When you have bad results there is normally a tendency for that to be delayed and sometimes things even degenerate and there is no way back.

“But we were calm, we were not in hell and in this moment we are stable again and we are not in heaven.

“The board always told me ‘you are here for three years, keep doing your job, no bad results will change our idea of having you here for a long time’.

“I think this relationship can last a long time because it was not based on good results, it was based on reality, what we saw day to day.”

United will be looking to extend their hot streak when they take on Reading in the FA Cup on Saturday.