Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has indicated that he is comfortable with the possibility that his young Manchester United side are not going to dominate Astana on Thursday night.
With qualification to the last 32 of the Europa League in the bag, Solskjaer has rested most of his first-team and has taken a very young squad to Kazakhstan for Manchester United's European commitment.
Luke Shaw, Lee Grant and Jesse Lingard are the only players who are above the age of 21 in the squad that has travelled east for the Europa League clash.
Solskjaer has promised a number of debuts on Thursday night and as many as nine Manchester United academy players could be in the starting eleven against Astana.
The Manchester United manager is not expecting his young side to dominate a team of seasoned professionals at Astana but believes giving the youngsters the opportunity is the right thing to do.
He feels it is the perfect setting for some of the young Manchester United players to get a taste of first-team football.
Solskjaer said in a press conference: “I think this is going to be an even, tight game.
“We have some young players. If they’re going to learn to play this games I think it’s a great start for them.
“Not expecting them to dominate but we should compete and challenge.
“If we went with every first-team player then maybe we have a better chance to win the game. But this is the right decision and it’s going to be a great game of football.”
Solskjaer has taken Manchester United’s academy director and his former team-mate Nicky Butt to Astana as the latter is more aware of some of the players in the squad.
