Phelan believes the manager is to blame.
Former Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan says that Louis van Gaal is to blame for the club’s injury problems of late.
READ MORE:
Manchester United Close In On £25m Argentina International As Valencia Pull Out Of The Race.
Manchester United Manager Van Gaal Confident Of Landing €100m Rated Strootman.
Ten Most Ambitious January Transfer Rumours, With Man United’s £200m Duo And Chelsea’s £50m Bid For Liverpool Starlet.
The Red Devils have suffered a huge amount of fitness issues already in 2014/15 and Phelan has pinpointed the changes that van Gaal has made as the cause.
“What’s happened is a continuation of the same players getting injured all the time, so you have to look to the reasons why,” the current Norwich City coach told the International Business Times.
“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, 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.
“Then suddenly they moved him sideways and did something completely different. That may have had an effect. That one area has changed.
“They’ve brought in new people with a different way of doing things.
“The intensity of training may be one thing – it may be too intense, or not intense enough – but obviously slight changes have been made with the present way of doing things.
“I would have thought [the squad] is big enough at Manchester United, because they can go out and get players in, but obviously they keep breaking down and they don’t seem to be getting any better.
“They seem to get one back and lose another two.
“Van Gaal knows now roughly the intensity of the Premier League and what his players can produce. He’s been at the highest level, working with the highest players, in different countries.
“It’s just a case of maybe understanding the specific requirements of players, individual players, where they need to be at certain times in order to perform. He’s got enough staff there to sort that out.”
Phelan spent 12 years at Old Trafford as assistant to legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson before being sacked by the Scot’s successor David Moyes when he took charge in 2013.
Moyes himself has of course since lost his job and been replaced by van Gaal and the Dutchman has moved Strudwick to become Head of Athletic Development and replaced him with fellow countryman Jos van Dijk.
Van Dijk previously worked under the 63-year-old with Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team, but Phelan clearly feels the practices they have brought in are not working.