United faced a marathon trek to play Astana in Kazakhstan on Thursday although, having already qualified from their Europa League group, the United manager was able to rest his entire first team squad.
Striker Jesse Lingard was the only regular first team player to make the trip as Solskjaer kept one eye on the Villa game and an increasingly frustrating domestic campaign.
United are presently off the fourth and final Champions League place occupied by Chelsea, where Frank Lampard has illustrated youth can flourish.
Solskjaer fielded a team on Thursday with an average age fractionally over 22 and the majority acquitted themselves well despite a 2-1 defeat.