Injury after injury...

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RichH2016

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So it seems Darmian is now out for several weeks after dislocating his shoulder in today's game.

This is incredibly bad luck because it seems to be one injury after another and it's been that way for some time. It's made worse because a lot of the injuries are to our full backs or players who can play there.

But what I won't have it LVG whinging about it. It's partly his fault the we are so short in that area because he didn't add in January! Despite knowing that we were thin on the ground in that area.
 
Any team will struggle if both of their first and second choice full backs get injured. Not LVG's fault if players pick up contact injuries during the course of the season. You can only have so many players as back up.
 
But the back up options aren't good enough and haven't been for a while.

Jones isn't good enough plus he's proven for years he can't stay fit. Valencia has had injury problems for a while now and Rojo hasn't stayed fit much since he arrived in the country.

No injuries aren't LVGs fault but the lack of quality in depth absolutely is.
 
I cannot and will not blame lvg for lack of depth in the squad. If there are going to be multiple injuries to players in the same position any manager will have problems. He has coped up with these injuries admirably.
 
I half agree with you both. When you are on to your fifth or sixth choice right back you cannot possibly blame the manager, that is just terrible luck. He has however lowered the quality of the squad and kept it paper thin, that is his fault.
 
He's lowered the strength in depth and that is his fault completely.

OK so with Young, Valencia, Rojo and Jones out that's bad luck... But are any of those really good enough to play for United?

Jones hasn't been good enough since after his first season. Rojo hasn't proven himself at all and Young is hit and miss.

Yes injuries are bad luck and there's nothing LVG can do about that. But I'm sorry the lack of quality options is his fault. And the fact we are missing those named above is a pretty damming statement.
 
Who would you have in the squad that lvg has discarded in the positions which are under staffed. Rafael? Or Rio? Or Vidic who retired mid season due to poor form? He replaced all of them with adequate replacements. Whether they are united quality or not is up for debate. But the again if we had depth in quality upto 3 players in each position how could we have given youth any chance? I feel it's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't with lvg. If the results were going his way we would all be praising his youth policy as well as his transfers. Now that they aren't we are dissecting every move that he makes which does not sit well with me.
 
I would actually have kept Rafael but he has been unlucky at right back. Not so much elsewhere in the team
 
Selling Rafael was a mistake. He's a good young player who just needed to be given confidence by the manager.

Letting Evra, Rio and Vidic all go at the same time was a mistake because it was too much experience to lose at once.

At the end of the day he's kept players who are not good enough but more than that are injury prone. That was his call to keep those players so that is in him. I'm not saying we should be 3 or 4 deep in each position and I'm all for youth getting a chance... But that being the case he can't then moan about being unlucky when we suffer injuries.
 
So selling Rafael was a mistake and the players he retained were injury prone. Did we all forget that Rafael was also an injury prone player for us. Who of evra, vidic or rio would you have kept over the current crop of players we have given that two of them have retired. I wouldn't take evra over Luke shaw. I have no issue with a manager who sells players as long as he adequately replaces them which lvg has done.
 
Tbf had darmian come in and set the place alight and never been injured nobody would be mentioning Rafael. I just thought he was a good full back and wouldn't have got rid of him. We couldn't possibly have kept rio or vidic, they had gone. Keeping evra had he been prepared to stay whilst bedding in Shaw might have been an idea. We haven't really had back up at left back. What he has done up front is scandalous. He has tried to put the midfield right but hasn't really done, we still rely heavily on Carrick. My conclusion is some of what he has done has been OK, some unlucky, but a lot has been his fault.
 
So selling Rafael was a mistake and the players he retained were injury prone. Did we all forget that Rafael was also an injury prone player for us. Who of evra, vidic or rio would you have kept over the current crop of players we have given that two of them have retired. I wouldn't take evra over Luke shaw. I have no issue with a manager who sells players as long as he adequately replaces them which lvg has done.

I'd have absolutely kept Evra to pass on his experience to Shaw. And I'd have looked to keep one of Vidic or Rio. I can honestly say I'd rather either of those alongside Smalling than Blind or Jones.

In my eyes Jones isn't United quality. He looked a great signing at first but since then he's gone backwards. He's injury prone but even ignoring that he's positionally poor and even worse on the ball.

Darmian has looked hit and miss. He started really well but then suffered a few injuries and looked pretty poor when he was playing. But before his injury on Saturday he'd had a solid few games which was very encouraging. But I don't agree that LVG has adequately replaced the players he let go. If he had we wouldn't be set for another season of missing out on the top 4. The players out with injury aren't that good.
 
We did everything to keep evra. We also triggered the automatic extension of one year of his contract. But he didn't want to play second fiddle to shaw hence he left. Did you see rio or vidic play in their last seasons of their career. They were clearly past it. If anything lvg was right in letting them leave. He brought in rojo and shaw and gave Rafael a season to prove himself. Rojo was pretty good before his injury this season. He had struck up a very good partnership with smalling. What I am trying to say is no manager however good can cope with the amount of injuries to his squad in a particular position.
 
He's been unlucky with the injuries at FB to Shaw, Rojo and Darmian as they are contact injuries, but a lot of the injuries over the past 2 seasons have been muscle injuries and that is a fault of Van Gaal and his staff. These injury problems have also occurred under Moyes and Fergie, which may point to it being a bigger fault of the medical staff who have been the common denominator.

I don't care who's to blame though really, it's something the club needs to seriously look at, these injuries are costing us dearly and who's to say that the players who are playing are able to play at 100%. It shouldn't be about signing more players to cover these injuries, we need to stop these injuries happening in the first place, it's not normal to have 10+ injuries nearly every week for 2 seasons. It shouldn't be happening at this level with the resources we have.
 
Rooney out for 6 weeks. Fellaini out with a muscle injury because he's "played a lot of games in a row".

Seriously!? Am I going completely mad? This is ridiculous and has been for many years, it's been worse than ever under Van Gaal though. Heads need to roll.
 
Our injury record over the last few years has been nothing short of comical. Whether it be contact injuries or muscle injuries there comes a time where you start to wonder.

This can't be coincidence when it happens this often! Rooney out, Fellaini out plus the long term absentees...
 
Things like dislocated shoulders and broken legs you have to say that is bad luck. But injury problems have been going on for far too long for there not to be something causing it.

We aren't the only club but when you look at Leicester and Spurs this season, able to play a pretty consistent 11 all season, of course that benefits them. Southampton have flown up the table, another club with very little injuries.

I don't disagree with Van Gaal's reasons to have a small squad, less players to keep happy and coach, the aim should be to play the best 11 in every game so you shouldn't need a large squad. Thing is, injury problems have been an issue for a while and it's perhaps negligent on his behalf to not have a bigger squad, if he had a bigger squad though we'd probably have more injuries.
 
For me muscle injuries when they happen time after time start to raise alarm bells that things aren't right with the training.

Anybody can accidentally pull a muscle but it's a constant issue with the team...

Having a small squad has its merits as we are seeing with Leicester and Spurs. But to compete on all fronts like a club of our size should, you can't get away with it. And to have a small squad you need a lot of luck so it's a risk.

Having a consistent 11 is great but just not realistic if we want to compete in Europe as well.
 
This season we have had mostly contact injuries rather than muscle injury. Those who suffered muscle injury are players like Carrick and Rooney who are tbf aged. That points the finger away from training methods to sheer bad luck. I agree a bigger squad would have helped us with injuries. But squad players are mostly always not as good as first team players. If they are as good as them then they will grumble at being left on the bench leading to squad unrest. Either way it's off with van gaal's head.
 
Taking Van Gaal's head off would be a bit of a job, it's massive. There is a lot of bad luck involved but you don't need to be a genius to know Jones is going to miss half the season. That is a position we should have been covering better. Same with strikers, a position you can definitely lay the blame with Van Gaal. Right back just unlucky.
 
Regarding Jones, I think Van gaal bought Rojo as a cover for Jones. But yeah I agree there should have been more cover in the striker position. That is Van Gaal's fault. He got lucky that martial has been a success. Otherwise we would have been fecked.
 
Regarding Jones, I think Van gaal bought Rojo as a cover for Jones. But yeah I agree there should have been more cover in the striker position. That is Van Gaal's fault. He got lucky that martial has been a success. Otherwise we would have been fecked.

So Rojo is a back up to a back up? ;):)

Jones isn't good enough to be a starter so if Rojo is his back up then my god he's bad.

Selling Evans seemed a reasonable decision at the time but now it looks a bit of a mistake. But that's life and I can't blame LVG for clearing out dead wood.

What I would say though is most of our defenders have a pretty bad injury record. Jones, Valencia even Shaw since he arrived with the club. Now I know Shaw's injury was a freak incident but would he have stayed fit all season?! His first year at the club was injury hit.
 
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