While there’s uncertainty surrounding the extent of Manchester United midfielder Daley Blind’s recent knee injury, the Red Devils now have 12 first-team players currently out of action, but is manager Louis Van Gaal to blame?
Highly-experienced fitness coach Raymond Verheijen, who has previously worked for the Netherlands‘, South Korean and Russian national teams, La Liga giants Barcelona, Russian league leaders Zenit Petersburg, Premier League leaders Chelsea and defending champions Manchester City, was critical of the new United boss back in August, suggesting his methods would cause injuries to arise at the club.
“What LVG proves is that top coaches are not perfect. Even the world’s best have deficiencies. Planning & periodisation is not his strongest point: double sessions & muscle injuries,” he said via his Twitter account.
Raymond Verheijen blamed the successful coach for the injuries in the Netherlands national team during this summer’s World Cup, adding that Van Gaal has continued to make the same mistakes.
“During the World Cup preparation the Dutch players had to do frequent double sessions, so not surprisingly the muscle injuries accumulated. At Man United, in the first few weeks, LVG has applied the same approach and, as expected, with the same result.”
Manchester United’s recent injury list
David De Gea (finger), Luke Shaw (hamstring), Jonny Evans (ankle/foot), Phil Jones (calf/shin), Marcos Rojo (shoulder), Rafael da Silva (groin/pelvis), Daley Blind (knee), Michael Carrick (groin/pelvis), Ashley Young (groin/pelvis), Angel Di Maria (foot/ankle), Radamel Falcao (calf/shin).
With Verheijen pre-empting muscle injuries occurring for Manchester United through the course of this season from a manager he deemed as notoriously inept at fitness training, does Van Gaal need coaching in the field of player conditioning? The sole objective for the Red Devils this season was to get back into the top-four of the Premier League, but the high amount of injuries have led to United to struggle for consistency. In their last league game against Crystal Palace – of which they won 1-0 – midfield Daley Blind, young little-known defender Paddy McNair, and winger Antonio Valencia made up three places in the backline.
The majority of layouts are expected to return to training before the New Year, but there are a host of important clashes coming thick and fast that will certainly take their toll on any players not 100% fit. United have eight games in five-and-a-half weeks to come before New Year creeps in.
Where does the blame lie for Manchester United injury troubles? Is it just down to bad luck? Or are Louis Van Gaal’s methods to blame?
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