We had as good of a season fitness wise as we can hope for. Minimal injuries over a grueling season like that, and its unlikely to be repeated to that level. It's not about one player not doing great in limited game time, it's getting more out of squad players or trusting them to at least do something. We all complained about a lack of depth last summer after Ole couldn't rotate his starting 11. We signed Van de Beek, Cavani, Telles, spent 40m on an 18 year old Amad, bought Pellistri... and yet we are right back here and saying the squad depth isn't good enough, even though 3 of those players were on the bench all for the full 120 and another was loaned out? We played for 120 minutes. It's mind bogglingly stupid to not use subs normally. We saw at the start of the season how big of a difference a fit and fresh team makes even if they are lower quality. Van de Beek had a poor season, sure. Put him in the final and I'm sure he'll play with a point to prove.
My point in 2008 was during an injury crisis, Sir Alex didn't just sit with the proven first team professionals on the pitch. He threw the kids in during a must win game for the likes of Tevez and Nani who were having poor games, and it came off. You need to have that bravery to still use your bench even if its sparse, at least you are trying to change something, you tell your bench players you believe in them, you roll the dice, and you get fresh legs on there which is invaluable. We wasted the last 20 minutes of the regular 90 and pretty much the entirely of extra time by not making subs until really late. That was our problem. Ole just froze like a deer in headlights last night.