McCarthy feeds Wolves to Manchester Utd

Manchester United 3 Wolves 0. There was nothing remotely ferocious about Wolves as boss Mick McCarthy handed Manchester United an easy win in what was Alex Ferguson's 900th league game in charge of the Reds.

After Saturday's impressive 1-0 defeat of Spurs at White Hart Lane, Wolves turned up at Old Trafford with a second string team, boasting just 41 Premier League appearances between them this season as McCarthy rested key players ahead of Sunday's clash with Burnley. Only goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann had played in the Spurs victory and it showed as United cruised to a comfortable win with goals from Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic and Antonio Valencia.

McCarthy's team selection didn't go down well with the Wolves' faithful who had made the journey to Manchester on a bitter December night. Chants of "We want our money back" rang out from the away fans' section, but the manager was unrepentant.

"I played the best team available to me," explained McCarthy. "The fittest, best and strongest I could pick, that hadn't played on Saturday... I can understand the fans but that is my first team. I've got 21 players to pick from and they are all first-team players. I hope fans understand that. My decisions will be judged on whether we stay in the Premier League."

For the first half an hour Wolves' rookies kept United at bay but then Ronald Zubar handled in the penalty area and Rooney fired home from the penalty spot – his 12th league goal of the season. Shortly before the interval Vidic extended the hosts' lead with a header from a Darron Gibson corner.

Valencia made it 3-0 in the second half with a half-volley after Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes had combined to create the chance. The victory moves United level on points with Chelsea (who host Portsmouth tonight) and Ferguson sympathised afterwards with McCarthy's predicament: "It wasn't surprising [Wolves fielded a weakened team], given that they have Burnley on Sunday... Wolves put up a good show considering it was mostly their second string out."

It's within the powers of the Premier League to punish Wolves for their team selection as the rules state that clubs shall field a full-strength team for every match, although the league told BBC Radio 5 live it was "unlikely they would launch any investigation". ·