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| luis van Gaal |
Former
Manchester United assistant boss Mike Phelan has blamed Louis van Gaal’s
fitness regime for the catalogue of injuries at Old Trafford after
Chris Smalling became the club’s 43rd casualty of the season.
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| Chris smalling goes down in game against Saints |
It
is also the third time that Smalling has been sidelined since Van
Gaal’s arrival last summer after he limped out of Monday’s win at
Southampton with a groin strain. The England defender will be assessed
further on Wednesday but is rated extremely doubtful for Sunday’s game
at home to Liverpool.
United
are currently also without summer signings Angel di Maria, Daley Blind
and Luke Shaw, while Rafael and Phil Jones have just returned to
training.
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| Mike Phelan |
Phelan,
who spent 12 years working alongside Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford,
believes that Van Gaal’s decision to bring in his own fitness
specialist Jos van Dijk to oversee first-team training at the start of
the season and give Tony Strudwick a broader role has led to the injury
pile-up with so many players ‘breaking down’.
‘What’s
happened is a continuation of the same players getting injured all the
time, so you have to look to the reasons why,’ said Phelan, who is now
first-team coach at Norwich City.
‘I think Manchester United changed their thoughts on the fitness regime. They looked at it a little bit differently.
‘Tony
Strudwick, who was operating as head of sports science and was involved
day to day with the first-team. He understood the ins and outs of how
to keep players fit, how to keep them ready for competition. Source: Daily mail
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