Substitute Anthony Martial was the match-winner after latching on to Romelu Lukaku's flick on to score in the 81st minute.
At the final whistle, Mourinho put his finger over his lips to make a "shush" gesture at a television camera. Ashley Young later tweeted: "Great team spirit. Very good result. Talk is cheap."
When asked who the gesture was aimed at, Mourinho said: "Some people speak too much, calm down, relax a little bit.
"Don't speak too much, speak, speak, speak, relax. Relax a little bit, don't be so nervous. Don't be so excited."
"The opposition bench? No. The opposition bench did their job, super correct."
Mourinho's record against the top six had been questioned in the build-up to Tottenham's visit, particularly after the 0-0 draw against Liverpool at Anfield.
His decision to replace Marcus Rashford with Martial in the second half was also greeted with some boos by sections of the crowd.
But it was the France international who made the decisive impact, coming off the bench to score his sixth goal of the season.
Mourinho added: "Against three central defenders who had a hard match against Lukaku and Rashford, he comes, and OK, probably a lucky shot but the movement is good, the desire is good and the goal is the goal that gets us two more points than the 0-0."
Martial has competed with Rashford for a place in Mourinho's team this season with the 21-year-old starting consecutive games just once.
He told Sky Sports: "I want to play. I don't want to be on the bench. Rashford plays good too so when the manager gives us a chance we have to score."
Mourinho was critical of his players after they lost ground in the title race with the 2-1 defeat to Huddersfield last weekend, but he insisted he got the right response against Tottenham.
United have the chance to clinch qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League this week when they face Benfica at Old Trafford on Tuesday before a trip to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea on Sunday.
Mourinho said: "I like a lot of the performance independent of the result.
"If the result is 0-0 or 1-1 my feelings with the players and the team would be the same because they gave absolutely everything, every ball was like the most important ball of their career, the concentration and focus was there and we cannot forget the quality of the team we were playing against."
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