Lukaku earned praise from his manager for his work rate during the narrow 1-0 win over Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday.

It included challenging Solomon March to win a corner in the build-up to Ashley Young's deflected winner and chasing back 40 yards to tackle Bruno in the final stages.

Lukaku has scored just once in his last 10 games but Mourinho insists he offers much more than goals and the United boss has told the striker's teammates they should follow his lead and work harder.

"In the last minute he was fighting and running back like he was in the first minute so I think it is also a mentality question," Mourinho said at Old Trafford on Saturday.

"The way Romelu wins the corner for the goal, the way Romelu ends the game making tackles in the left back position, that is the mentality I want and unfortunately, not every player is the same. Not every player is the same.

"Players are men, men are different. Men are unique cases.

"Some guys are capable to go into the limits of their efforts and some others guys even with a lot of talent, they don't manage to do that, so Romelu, for me, fantastic. He didn't score. I don't care."

Mourinho accepted United did not play well against Brighton after watching Young's shot take a huge deflection off Lewis Dunk to seal the points in the second-half.

He was, though, happy with the fans at Old Trafford.

He accused United's home support of being "a bit soft" in some game this season but not, in his opinion, on Saturday.

He added: "Today I am happy with the three points. I am happy with the attitude of a team that didn't play well and the attitude of a team that didn't play well is important.

"It is quite a surprise for me but the supporters were fantastic. We had matches at home where we played really well and they were a bit soft.

"They were behind the team today, they supported the players when it was 0-0 and in the last part of the game, at home at Old Trafford we had problems against Brighton, a newly promoted team, and the supporters were behind the team, they support the team, they support the players."

United will play their second game in four days on Tuesday when they face Watford at Vicarage Road.

Mourinho's team will be looking to improve an away record that has seen them win just two league games on their travels all season, the last of which was against Southampton in September.

Watford -- whose manager Marco Silva is still being linked with the vacancy at Everton -- are up to eighth in the table after an impressive 3-0 win at Newcastle on Saturday, their second in a row to end a run of three straight defeats.

United were beaten 3-1 at Vicarage Road last season, a result that still rankles Mourinho more than a year on.

He added: "Against Watford I was very upset with Watford's first goal after some guy sent [Anthony] Martial to the hospital and the referee let it go, that is the reason why I was very, very upset at Watford.

"They have an unusual squad for a midtable team. They have a squad full of very good players who are not normal to be in these mid-table teams.

"They have a good coach. They have improved a lot from last season."