Manchester United Rolls Out the Kiddie Corps
Needless to say, a sixth-place Premiership finish is not what the Red Devils had in mind.
As soon as manager José Mourinho did the math and determined a Top 4 spot -- and thus a place in next season's Champions League -- was all but outta reach, he turned his total focus to the Europa Cup final against Ajax of Amsterdam in Stockholm.
All of which made their season finale against Crystal Palace academic.
Mourinho decided to make the match significant in another manner.
With the exception of Wayne Rooney and Paul Pogba -- presumably to keep the paying customers from revolting -- the Special Dude rolled out damn near everyone else in their camp who had little or no chance of appearing in Stockholm.
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That Palace still got whitewashed, 2-0, will probably have their management asking a few extra questions over the summer.
Debutant Josh Harrop showed promise when he scored within 15 minutes of his entry:
To say United's coffers are abundant is to be redundant.
Four minutes later, one of the chaperones, Pogba, crafted a dandy score to put paid to any thought the Eagles had of ending the year on any sort of positive note:
Can we say hot knife through butter?
Sure. We knew you could.
Now, here's where the scenario gets interesting for both United and Liverpool:
- The 'Pool's fourth-place Premiership finish only assures them of a spot in the Champions League preliminary brackets and not the group stage.
- If Ajax tops United to claim the Europa Cup, the Reds will likely have better odds of drawing a less-accomplished side.
Here's one final tidbit for the annals of trivia:
With two minutes left in the match, Rooney was subbed out for 16-year-old Angel Gomes, making him the youngest Red Devil ever to appear in the Premiership era.
At least the Eagles only needed two minutes of stout defense to keep him off the sheet.