‘NEVER AGAIN!’

boss. “You can’t play Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. It’s impossible.

“That’s the reason why we had to make these changes, because it’s just unheard of. If this game was tomorrow (Wednesday), no problem, and we had the next one on Saturday.

“But it is impossible for players to perform at this level – Thursday night, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. Impossible.”

Solskjaer handed a United debut to Anthony Elanga, 19, and a Premier League debut to Amad Diallo, 18, but his

P W D L F A Pts Man City (C) 35 25 5 5 72 26 80 Man Utd 35 20 10 5 68 38 70 Leicester 36 20 6 10 65 44 66 Chelsea 35 18 10 7 55 32 64 West Ham 35 17 7 11 55 45 58 Liverpool 34 16 9 9 57 39 57 Tottenham 35 16 8 11 61 41 56 Everton 34 16 7 11 46 42 55 Arsenal 35 15 7 13 49 38 52 Leeds 35 15 5 15 53 53 50 Aston Villa 34 14 6 14 49 41 48 Wolves 35 12 9 14 35 47 45 Crystal Palace 35 11 8 16 37 59 41 Southampton 35 11 7 17 44 62 40 Burnley 35 10 9 16 33 47 39 Newcastle 35 10 9 16 40 58 39 Brighton 35 8 13 14 36 41 37 Fulham (R) 35 5 12 18 25 47 27 West Brom (R)35 5 11 19 32 68 26 Sheff Utd (R) 35 5 2 28 18 62 17 much-changed side could take nothing from the match.

He added: “Amad was very good. Anthony gave us something different and I thought Mason Greenwood was absolutely fantastic.”

Solskjaer was upbeat about Harry Maguire. The defender suffered ankle ligament damage during last weekend’s win at Aston Villa.

But while he wore a protective boot and used crutches on his way from the directors’ box to his seat (above), Solskjaer insisted he was hopeful the defender would return for the Europa League final on May 26.