Jose Mourinho has explained some of his personnel changes and tactical alterations for Sunday's win over Middlesbrough.

Mourinho's XI also looked different to Thursday's Europa League win over Rostov with Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick all starting and playing prominent roles.

Fellaini, Jesse Lingard and Antonio Valencia scored United's goals at the Riverside Stadium.

"The winning is great for the group. But obviously today was too much for us," Mourinho told MUTV and BT Sport.

"Rostov away, Chelsea with 10 men, Rostov again and now Middlesbrough with injured players, tired players, suspended players, but these guys today were magnificent.

"I was expecting this kind of answer. I knew that people like Ashley Young, Carrick, Fellaini - I knew that Fellaini played against Rostov and for 40 minutes he was amazing. His form is high.

"Ashley Young played against Rostov and at Stamford Bridge. I knew the guys were ready to answer. So it was very good; I think we played really well."

The Portuguese used regular right-back Antonio Valencia in a more advanced role at the Riverside Stadium while replacing Juan Mata with defender Marcos Rojo in the second half of the contest.

"We had to think that [certain players] were fresh because they didn't play and some played against Rostov so are tired," he added.

"For example, I played Valencia in that [higher position] to protect him. Then (Phil) Jones and (Chris) Smalling were tired so I brought on an extra defender (Rojo) to give them a little bit of comfort and support.

"Mata, I knew could not play 90 minutes so we had to think about all these things at the same time. But the team was solid, compact and was very dangerous, especially in the first half before the goal.

"We had three big chances to score before the goal and I think we caused them lots of problems. It is normal they (Both) have a reaction; they are fighting for relegation for every point, but we deserved to win."