Manchester United have settled on their core squad of 16 players

Mondays are a day to relish for the Manchester United youngsters. Many get changed in the academy building but end up in the first-team hub.

With three successive Sunday fixtures, United need bodies to make up the numbers for Monday training sessions when the starters are recovering from the previous day's excursions.

So on Monday, Toby Collyer, Sam Mather, Dermot Mee, Kie Plumley, Sonny Aljofree, Ethan Wheatley and Ethan Williams were involved. Scott McTominay's matchwinner was never going to earn him a recovery session as he was on for 23 minutes.

"Our boys will be in and around to support first-team training," academy head Nick Cox said last week. "There are probably two versions of support [the manager] needs. The academy provides two services: the academy has got to develop players who can play in that team and the other is to support that team to prepare to win.

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"So recovery days, maybe when he's got a smaller group. We will add to that smaller group so they can have a proper, functional training session."

Darren Fletcher, the technical director, is consulted by assistant manager Mitchell van der Gaag on which players best suit the needs of the first team's session. Perhaps the only surprise from the club imagery on Monday is it did not feature left-backs Sam Murray or Harry Amass.

Erik ten Hag was only able to maximise his strongest United XI for one full game against Wolves. Vladimir Coufal's needless tangle with Lisandro Martinez has deprived United of their totemic centre half for eight weeks and Luke Shaw flagged another injury issue at Villa Park on Sunday.

Quirkily, United