Cybereagles

Manchester United have had 39 injuries still LVG took over the club 5 months ago!

http://www.espnfc.com/club/manchester-u ... s-continue

For the Arsenal game they have an entire XI injured: De Gea, Rafael, Jones, Evans, Rojo, Shaw, Blind, Carrick, Falcao, Young, Lingard (in addition to Januzaj, Fellaini, Herrera, and Smalling who recently returned from injury). That is shocking.

Dunno what's up with all these injuries, but I hope we can still get 11 Man Utd players to avoid another slip up against Assanal. It's been a trying season, worse than the last when we had the recent exit of Sir Alex to excuse the pains.

We also had a pretty huge injury list in that season when we lost the title to City by goal difference, that is basically what lost us the title IMHO.
I remember Vidic and Rio barely played and the likes of Anderson and Cleverly were out most of the season as awell as Valencia

Something not right with our physio department

Does anyone know why Chelsea has so few injuries, is it anything to do with Mourinho methodolgies

We also had a pretty huge injury list in that season when we lost the title to City by goal difference, that is basically what lost us the title IMHO.
I remember Vidic and Rio barely played and the likes of Anderson and Cleverly were out most of the season as awell as Valencia

Something not right with our physio department

Does anyone know why Chelsea has so few injuries, is it anything to do with Mourinho methodolgies

Opening a news and developments thread midway through the season....#finished.

We are having bad luck with injuries at the moment...but...that is part and parcel of the game

That is a huge understatement. Having 39 injuries in 5 months goes beyond "bad luck"! There is no way a Nigerian club side could have an injury list like that without accusations of juju or poisoning against the medial team and team cook!

What is so puzzling is that the injuries seem to disproportionately affect the defenders. We always knew that Rafael (and his twin Fabio), Evans, Smalling, Jones, Vida and Rio were as fragile as cream cracker. What is surprising is that even new defenders signed by the club immediately fall victim to the same injury curse (Rojo, Blind, Shaw). Even the reserve players called up to replace them have managed to get injured if they play in defence (Blackett, Valencia, Young).

Everyone keeps saying Man Utd need to sign a world class defender. No - they simply need to sign a defender who can play football for 90 minutes without breaking down!

Is there something odd going on at Man Utd? Are the training sessions too intense?

The remarkable thing is that if everyone was fit, Man Utd would have a match day squad bettered only by Man City and Chelsea:
De Gea, Rafael, Jones, Evans, Shaw, Herrera, Carrick, Di Maria, Rooney, Falcao, RVP. Subs: Smalling, Rojo, Blind, Fellaini, Mata, Januzaj, Lindegaard. That is not a bad team (with Young and Fletcher not even making the bench).

i also dont know what to make of these injuries, but i also note that quite a number of them are just bad luck, players getting injured due to clashes with opposing layers,

But i think the one we gonna miss more is Daley Blind, did you see how we struggled in midfield it was a highway for Arsenal, compared to how comfortable we looked vs City and Chelsea, clearly Blind does a very understated job, very underrated player

Replace Blind with "Carrick" in your bolded statements below and I will still agree. He was a calm influence and did the "dirty" jobs well against Arsenal (several blocks, interceptions, and also relieved pressure on his team by spreading the play with intelligent passing).

Opening a news and developments thread midway through the season....#finished.

So it's midway into the season already? Small wonder Arsenal always win the EPL in October,

there is one thing i have never liked about Carrick - he usually hides when the team is under pressure

those first 20mins we came under pressure simply because the young lads McNair and Blackett constantly found themselves with noone to pass to, Carrick was not making himself available and whenever they found him he simply returns the ball, even De Gea was forced to make panicked clearances
This is is where Blind is superior and brings more control, he is good at relieving goalkeeper and defenders of pressure and moving the ball elsewhere by simply making himself available all the time.
Thats one reason why Scholes came out of retirement and did the same

Carrick's composed, quietly selfless work at the base of midfield has been an instrumental influence on Manchester United's successes. He is the forgotten orchestrator, dictating the tempo of matches with elegant passing, a commanding positional presence, and an assured defensive head, ensuring United are the team in control of the match. As Xabi Alonso once noted, he is the type of player who "instead of shining themselves makes the team work as a collective... who makes those around him play."

Since 2011, Michael Carrick has averaged an impressive 2.5 tackles per match (over the same period, Yaya Toure has averaged 1.4 and Steven Gerrard 2.4), and 2.2 interceptions (more than any other player in the division). Analysing United's defensive shortcomings this season without factoring in Carrick's absence would be a fatal oversight, and yet, across the media, his name is consistently absent from discussions.

Carrick's defensive work is only half of the story. Crucially, he - unlike many of his defensive midfield counterparts - scores unusually lowly on clearances (1.7 per match). This is no coincidence. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Carrick is calm and intelligent on the ball, following interceptions with simple passes where others would clear, recycling possession and attempting to start counter-attacks.

In each of the last three seasons, Carrick made more passes per match than any other United player; averaging 74 at an 88% completion rate, placing him firmly amongst the elite defensive midfielders in the division (over the same period, Yaya Toure averaged 75 passes at 89% completion, and Steven Gerrard averaged 60 passes at 84.9%).

What's more, this skill could offer United a fluidity their game so desperately craves. As highlighted frequently in post-match analyses, Van Gaal has assembled a side of polarised skill sets. They possess a plethora of explosive attackers, a handful of useful defenders, and not much in between; with his possessional control, Carrick is the glue United need to merge their defence and attack together.

We have already seen some evidence of this. Against Crystal Palace - in his first 90 minutes of the season and before another injury set back - Carrick racked up an astonishing 107 passes at an 89% completion rate, more passes in a single game than any other player has achieved this season. What's more, United controlled 71% of possession (up 12.4% on their season average), and kept their first clean sheet since August. It was only Palace, but still.

Although rarely cited by journalists as a vital element of United's style, Carrick has consistently proven his credentials in a United shirt. His return to the heart of midfield will bind the defence together and help to unlock attacking potential. Van Gaal would do well to take note of the comments Alex Ferguson made during his final, title-winning campaign as manager: "Carrick is the key player. If you look at the central midfielders in the Premier League, he can match up against any of them in terms of quality. He is the key for us".

An article on the value of Carrick:
http://www.football365.com/f365-says/9581853/F365-Says