The five teenagers who shared the same pitch as the first team were midfielders and forwards.
As invaluable as the recent experiences have been for Zach Baumann, James Scanlon, Jack Fletcher, Shea Lacey and Ethan Wheatley, United's squad resembles the first week of preseason in a tournament summer rather than the final weeks of a campaign. Erik ten Hag has selected 26 different back fours, personnel-wise, this season.
Including Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka swapping sides with the same centrehalves, there have been 27. The number has possibly broken 30 with Ten Hag's right-side/leftside contradictions at centre-back. A team do not get to those numbers through sheer rotten luck. Harry Maguire was coughing and spluttering on his way out of the Community Stadium after 45 minutes at Brentford and if he is the next fly to drop then Casemiro will have to drop back. He looks like he is on his last legs.
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Any progress over the past few games has been brutally dismantled...
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