Manchester United: Mourinho believes McTominay will soon start scoring goals

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has praised Scott McTominay for his performance against Chelsea as the Red Devils beat the Blues 2-1 at Old Trafford. Goals by Jesse Lingard and Romelu Lukaku gave the home side three crucial points after Willian had given the visitors the lead.

This is the second season in a row that the Reds have got the better of Mourinho's former club at Old Trafford, after an impressive 2-0 victory last term.

The win will take some pressure off the Red Devils, who were blasted following an insipid 0-0 draw with Sevilla in the Champions League, where they were lucky to come back without a loss owing to the home side's profligacy in front of goal.

However, one player who can take a lot of solace from the performance at Sevilla is McTominay, who held his own in mid-week and was thereby in the starting line-up alongside Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic in midfield against Chelsea.

The 21-year-old has emerged as a first-team regular for United this season after featuring in their last five games, starting four of those matches. The Portuguese believes he is a modern midfield player, akin to the greats of the past. However, one thing he has not been able to do thus far is score goals, something Mourinho believes will come with time.

"I think he's a fantastic player - a player that is what I call the modern midfield player, which in the end is a bit of what the top midfield players of the past were. They can do everything. The only thing he is not doing yet is scoring goals, which he can.

"But because I'm giving him different jobs, he's not yet free to do that. We are starting from the basics and the basics he's doing wonderfully well," Mourinho told Manchester United's official website.

"I think he can also score goals - he has that talent. In pre-season, we understood that. But we are adapting him to his multi-functionality and he's doing fantastic jobs for us, like he did in Sevilla against Ever Banega and today against Eden, so I'm really happy with the player."