Phil Jones admitted Manchester United were not good enough against Southampton despite coming away from St Mary's with a 1-0 win.
Romelu Lukaku's first-half strike was enough for United, who had manager Jose Mourinho sent to the stands in the closing stages for encroaching onto the pitch.
Southampton put United under pressure, in the second half in particular, and ended the game having had 61 percent possession and 14 shots to the visitors' nine.
Before being sent off, Mourinho was forced to throw on defenders Chris Smalling and Daley Blind for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford to help see out the game.
"We didn't play well today," Jones told Sky Sports. "We just didn't play well for whatever reason, but it's times like this when you don't play well and you're still picking three points up. We were resilient, showed a lot of character and a lot of fight and we certainly needed that.
"We got the chance early on and Rom has done well and finished it off for us. We were hanging on towards the end and it wasn't good enough on our behalf. But we've won the game and we'll look forward to the Champions League on Wednesday night.
"At the moment we're happy with the three points but not so happy with the performance. Maybe last season we would have come here and drawn the game or possibly lost it so it shows improvement and character but we'll need to be better than that."
Lukaku's goal, a tap in from close range after Fraser Forster had saved his initial header, was the striker's eighth in eight games for United since his summer move from Everton.
Lukaku and substitute Ander Herrera had chances to wrap up the game in the second half, while Marouane Fellaini cleared Oriol Romeu's header off the line.
But ultimately it was Lukaku who was the match winner to help United keep pace with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, with Pep Guardiola's side only ahead on goal difference.
Jones added: "He scores goals for fun and you've seen what he's done today. He needs one chance and he sticks it in the back of the net and we're thankful to have him."