Goals from Alan Smith, Liam Miller and an own goal from Steve Foster gave Manchester United a comfortable passage into the fourth round for the Carling Cup.
Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a surprisingly strong second-string side at Championship outfit Crewe and they had enough fire power to see off Dario Gradi's men.
Smith, who like Louis Saha had only been used as a late substitute in the Sundays 2-0 victory against Arsenal, looked fresh and lively and was too clever for Crewe's defence playing in a withdraw role behind the Frenchman.
He pounced to open the scoring with a low drive into the bottom corner in the tenth minute after the Crewe defence had failed to clear their lines when Darren Fletcher's deflected shot looped onto the bar.
The Cheshire side came close to an equaliser immediately when Dean Ashton, Gradi's best player on the night, thumped a ten-yard effort straight at Tim Howard.
Attacking left-back Kieran Richardson should have extended the visitors' lead in the 20th minute when Saha played him through on goal, but he shot straight at former Manchester United reserve keeper Ben Williams.
United's passing and movement were keeping Crewe in the shade. Miller's angled drive was deflected for a corner as United continued to attack at the restart, before Smith blazed a half-volley inches wide from Fletcher's cross.
But Crewe came back and Howard needed two attempts to save David Vaughan's fizzing low drive and Steve Jones wormed his way into a great position on the right of the box but saw his effort palmed around the post.
The Premiership side killed the tie off with a couple of goals inside two second-half minutes, with Crewe's right flank left exposed.
In the 57th minute David Bellion played the ball through to Miller on the left of the box and the former Celtic midfielder had time to pick his spot in the corner of the net.
Then Richardson broke down the left and his cross was met by Bellion and then diverted inadvertently into his own net by Alex centre half Foster.