At the very least, the League Cup has brought some respite for Jose Mourinho.
This wasn’t Manchester United’s most fluent or most confident display, but it was a win and, after the slew of recent disappointments, any win will do, particularly one in a derby. The League Cup has always been good to Mourinho–he is yet to lose a game in the competition in 90 minutes in his entire career–and progress to the quarterfinals against West Ham will be doubly sweet, coming as it did against his archrival Pep Guardiola, who many would argue could use a respite himself.