Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is happy to test his youngsters against Crystal Palace in tonight's Carling Cup clash.

The United boss is adept at integrating youngsters into his plans and is carefully nurturing another talented group of teenagers, who already have the FA Youth Cup under their belts.

"The youngsters have taken part in a lot of first-team training now," he told manutd.com. "[Ravel] Morrison, [Paul] Pogba, [Larnell] Cole, [Jesse] Lingard and [Zeki] Fryers: we've stepped them up to our squad.

"They enjoy the challenge and it's an opportunity for us to see what they're like in these sessions, how they cope with the older players. It's how they handle the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic if they give them a bit of stick... it's a good part of a young player's progress when they can be involved with the big boys."