Medical Staff

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'we do seem to get lots of injuries though'

This season we have had a terrible time with injuries. In previous seasons I'd say we've had similar luck to other teams. Arsenal's title challenges (no sniggering at the back!) were derailed by injuries last season and the season before.

I find it a bit frustrating that fans can put together a comment from Hargreaves (who was embittered at being released by the club when he wanted to believe he was back to fitness) and a subjective impression that 'we always seem to have more injuries' (because of course we always notice our own injury setbacks more than those of other clubs) and start to question the professional capacities of the club's medical staff. Why would one of the top clubs in the world do anything other than invest in the very best staff to look after their investments?

Sometimes we fans need to recognise the limits of our capacity for informed comment. We don't know the medical histories of our players. We aren't (I'd guess) world renowned sports doctors and physiotherapists. We understand almost nothing about this. Shaky ground to start questioning credentials.

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Hippo, my comment (or should I say 'rant' wasn't directed at you in particular, but at the trend for uninformed criticism of our medical staff.

We have had spates of injuries in previous years but this is the first year I'm aware of where we've had so many out at the same time, and the first time we have objectively been incomparably more affected than our title rivals.

I do think a lot of these perceptions are created by being more aware of our problems than anyone else's, for natural reasons. E.g. do you have the data to back up the point about Barcelona or is it just how it seems to you? When I read that, I thought 'that's interesting, I wonder whether it is to do with the greater physicality and pace of the Premiership' then I stopped and reflected that I don't keep a very close tab on Barcelona and who is fit to play. I only really hear if a big name is out, and probably only if he's out for a long time with a bad injury (like Villa). If Xavi has a hamstring problem and misses three weeks, I won't know about it unless he happens to miss a CL tie with us. Now I come to think of it, I remember Barcelona having to put midfielders in defence in finals against us, and Messi missing most of the season in 2007-8. I'm not disputing your point, but questioning it.

It does seem interesting that Hargreaves didn't have such problems before United and it was after they started injecting him, he began to experience these problems. I think the medical staff at United made a mistake, Hargreaves seems to be down to earth and not look for controversy. So for me, the United medical staff, whilst obviously being excellent in their roles and being up with the best in the country, made a mistake. People make mistakes, United's medical staff made a mistake with Hargreaves. Vsio.

i think there could be, Anderson was rushed back a month ahead of schedule against Blackburn, and then missed the 2nd half of the season.

you look at saha, no injury issues before he joined us, then BLAM!
Ferdinand with his back etc... maybe there is something that united are doing that is contributing to this.

At Fulham in the two seasons prior to joining United Saha played 17 and 24 games. Are you sure it was a case of joining United and suddenly turning into an injury prone player?

We can start talking about United's methods contributing to injury problems if someone comes up with reliable statistics showing that we have more injuries and longer recovery times than other clubs. Subjective impressions from picking out a few memorable cases is no basis for coming to any conclusions.

Of course, in this industry there is often a balancing act between getting a player fit in the long term and patching him up to contribute in the short term. With such high stakes there must be close calls (at every club) and occasional gambles. In this respect, I'm sure mistakes are sometimes made. However, for one thing I have no basis to believe we make mistakes more often than the average club. For another, I'd suggest that the final decision often comes down to the manager: the medical staff can give an appraisal which says definitely fit / definitely not ready to play / could play but needs to take it easy on his hamstring / ideally give him another week but he could play now - 25% risk of aggravating the injury.

so what about Anderson??

Yes Hargreaves did have a point, and I made an Article saying the exact same thing back around December/January. Our injuries in the first half of the season were quite frankly ridiculous.

And no news on Vidic or Anderson, when will they be back? I'm starting to doubt even the start of the season.

If the medical staff say a player will be back for a certain date, I expect that date to be met, however there is still nothing about Vidic, so I'm starting to think they have missed their date, which is a concern and makes me also concerned about the medical staff.

In fairness the medical staff can only give an estimation. They can't know exactly when a problem will clear up, especially a long term problem, they can only go by experience of the same injury on other players. But as you know, players recover at different rates.

You also have to bear in mind the PR, everything is about PR nowadays, especially at huge clubs like United. They have to be optimistic and try to keep everybody on side and act like there isn't a problem.

You can bet your life that if they're at United, or any top side, in the league, they're some of the best in the country. So maybe it's not their methods but the pressure on them to rush players back?