Jose Mourinho backed to succeed at Manchester United by Carlos Carvalhal

United can only settle for second place this season with rivals Manchester City 16 points clear at the top of the table but Carvalhal believes better is to come

Carlos Carvalhal believes Jose Mourinho will succeed at Old Trafford (Manchester United)

Carlos Carvalhal has backed his compatriot and friend Jose Mourinho to succeed at Manchester United after seeing his relegation-threatened Swansea City side beaten at Old Trafford.

First-half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez proved enough to beat a spirited but limited Swansea, who remain three points above the Premier League relegation zone with seven games remaining.

United, meanwhile, can only settle for second place this season with rivals Manchester City 16 points clear at the top of the table.

Though United can postpone City’s coronation by avoiding defeat in this Saturday’s Manchester derby at the Etihad, it will only delay the inevitable. Hopes of challenging Pep Guardiola’s side are long dead.

Mourinho has faced criticism for failing to compete with City late into the season and United’s early elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Sevilla last month brought yet more scrutiny.

Yet Carvalhal, who considers Mourinho a friend having studied for coaching qualifications together, believes the Portuguese will enjoy a successful spell at Old Trafford.

“At Porto, nobody expected him to win the Champions League, but he won it,” the Swansea manager said. “After he moved to Chelsea, they hadn't won the league for 30 years or something, and he was champion there.

“Go to Inter Milan, no championship for 15 years, and he win everything there. Go to Real Madrid, to play against the best team of the century, and you know everyone said it was impossible to beat Barcelona, and he was champion in Madrid.

Mourinho invited Carvalhal into his own press conference after United's victory (PA)

“He came here, Manchester United have gone a little down in recent years. It's the reality, they are not winning trophies, but the reality is that in England it's harder to make all the steps in one season sometimes, because there are teams who are very strong, teams with very good managers, and it makes things more difficult.

“He's preparing for the future to do better and better, and try to make the jump to be champions, but don't expect that a manager can come to a club and with a click of the fingers, with a team that's not winning, and change everything and start winning everything - it's impossible.”

Carvalhal, who sat alongside Mourinho in the United manager’s press conference, added: “There are steps clubs must do and he's taking the correct steps. I didn't know but I heard Jose say they have more points at this stage than last season, more goals and so on, so the team is progressing.

“But this is England, it's different to Italy, Spain or Portugal, because here the competition is hard - Liverpool is very strong, Tottenham is very strong, Chelsea is very strong, Manchester City is very strong, so things are not easy, especially with a team that was far away from the trophies. In my opinion he's taking the correct steps.”

Carvalhal is confident his side can avoid the drop (Getty)

Mourinho claimed Carvalhal should be named manager of the season for his work at Swansea, who find themselves in a much healthier position three months on from their new manager’s arrival.

Carvalhal is confident that Swansea will be able to keep their heads above water, though warned his players to be wary of “the sharks” that could drag them down.

"We are swimming now, absolutely,” he said. “We are not in ‘the line of the water’, we are swimming, and this is good because if you go to the line sometimes, the sharks push you down and you can go last position. But so far we're swimming so it's not bad, but we still feel we need swim faster and we need more points to stay up."