Sir Alex Ferguson has dropped some hints as to his likely team selection in Wednesday's Carling Cup quarter-final with Crystal Palace.
The boss will again rely heavily on youth, as he has in the previous rounds against Leeds United and Aldershot Town, and has suggested that Paul Pogba could be handed his first senior start for the Reds. The Frenchman came on as a substitute at Elland Road and the EBB Stadium but is now in the running for a place in the initial eleven, alongwith fellow FA Youth Cup winner Ravel Morrison.
"There will be complete change," revealed Sir Alex. "Just the same as we had at Leeds and Aldershot. Ravel Morrison was in the squad for Wednesday's game [against Benfica]. He's a very, very talented boy, of course, and he'll possibly be on the bench, at least, in midweek. But I've got other players needing a game like Mame Biram Diouf and Federico Macheda.
"All the younger players [will come in] - Zeki Fryers, the two Da Silvas [Rafael and Fabio] are possibles. Chris Smalling has come back and I may be able to play him on Wednesday. He's still young and it'll be a young squad against Palace. The only area where I've got problems is centre midfield. It's possible I could play Pogba in there but we'll wait and see. I've got enough players to choose from, that's for sure."
"I think the League Cup has turned into quite a good tournament," added the manager. "Clubs like United are able to introduce young players and ones who have not been playing regularly in the first team and it's been good to us over the years.
"We've won two finals at Wembley with young players, which is good going, and I think it's become an important tournament for us in terms of getting the youngsters an introduction into winning and having an understanding of the progress they're making."
Sir Alex has a well-established system in place in terms of how to develop the youngsters coming through the ranks at Old Trafford.
"The reserves' league is more of an extended youth league but we rectify that by putting players on loan," he explained. "We've got quite a lot of players on loan this year, as we have every year, most of the 19 and 20-year-olds.
"The nucleus of the youth team last year have all had first-team experience this season. They've all been involved in the League Cup and travelled to European games with us. One of that youth team is out on loan in the Championship [Ryan Tunnicliffe at Peterborough] and it's valuable experience for the younger ones."
