The answer is no chance if they keep playing without, as their manager put it in a damning post-match character assessment, the “heart” required at this level.
United were dismal once again against a spirited – and frankly better – Palace side who might wonder how, given the chances they created, they did not walk away with three points.
And after rightly questioning the character of some of his players, Mourinho warned a repeat against Young Boys tomorrow night could leave United’s Champions League hopes on a knife edge.
It was doubly disappointing for Mourinho that Victor Lindelof, one of the few to avoid his ire, finished with a groin strain that is likely to rule him out of his side’s penultimate Group H fixture.
“I believe he is hurt,” said Mourinho, below.
“He was a brave lad but he probably punished himself [in playing on after three substitutions had been made]. I don’t know how long he will be out, but he is a fantastic example.”
On Friday, Mourinho issued his rallying call about cracking the top four by the end of December and this was not what he had in mind.
“I thought we started really well but when you play to win matches, you don’t stop until you win,” he said.
“We were playing well but we gave them periods of time, periods to break and feel that they were in control. We were not intense. We lost the ball. We gave them time to breathe.”
Mourinho’s description of players who greeted defeat and victory in the same casual manner was not explicitly targeted but it was not hard to work out who he meant. “There are people that will have a bad dinner [tonight],” he said.
“There are people that will enjoy a nice dinner and there will even be people that maybe will party.”
No names but Mourinho left Marcus Rashford out of his starting XI and lost patience with Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard during the second half.
Pogba was poor , producing an error-strewn display which repeatedly interrupted any head of steam United were able to build.
Both sides had goals disallowed either side of half-time, as Cheikhou Kouyate strayed offside when meeting Patrick van Aanholt’s free-kick, before Romelu Lukaku picked up the pieces after Ashley Young’s shot was parried into his path from an offside position.
Lukaku, who has not scored since September, also had a header saved well by Wayne Hennessey.
Yet it was Palace who should have secured the points given the chances they created, with Van Aanholt and Andros Townsend spurning the best of them.
This was a second point for Roy Hodgson’s side from a run of four fixtures against Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United. With Burnley, Brighton and West Ham on the horizon, things should get easier.
But Hodgson said: “If the players think it’s going to be easier in some way against Burnley, Cardiff, West Ham and Brighton, they are making a huge mistake and they will be told that in no uncertain terms.”
