After Lisandro Martinez participated in the team's joint training, Manchester United currently does not have any injured players. The Sun has revealed some of Amorim's methods of managing player injuries.
In Van Gaal's first season coaching Manchester United, he once said with a smile: "Only one player was injured, can you believe it?" That was in the middle of the 2014-15 season, and Manchester United did not participate in the European competition that season. Today, no Manchester United player is injured under Amorim. Lisandro Martinez, who had been sidelined for nine months due to a cruciate ligament injury, has begun participating in team training.
Just two seasons ago, Manchester United had 66 injuries under Ten Hag's coaching. At the beginning of the 2023-24 season, Manchester United had ten players absent due to injuries in their away game against Bayern. In order to convince doubters, Ten Hag once asked analysts to count the number of different central defender combinations he chose and showed a piece of paper with the number "32" written on it, but this did not change the fact that Manchester United finished eighth that season and was at the bottom of the Champions League group.
Now, Manchester United's injury record has improved significantly. This season only Lisandro Martinez, Mazraoui, Cunha, Mount, Dalot and Maguire have missed out due to injuries. Apart from Martinez, United players have only missed nine games due to injury. Amorim told players to "run like dogs" early in his tenure and United currently rank fourth in the Premier League in terms of pressing statistics. The longest injury layoff was Mazraoui's four weeks, half of which came during the October international break.
One of the reasons why Manchester United has fewer injuries is that the schedule is lighter. They played 60 games last season and may only have 40 this season. Nonetheless, Van Gaal's first season was plagued by injuries even though he only played 44 games. Carrick has missed 20 Premier League games, Di Maria and Falcao have both been sidelined due to injuries, and Blind has also missed two months. Luke Shaw suffered six injuries in his first season and only played 20 games.
Eleven years later, Luke Shaw has remained fit since his return in April and has started all ten of United's Premier League games this season, as have De Ligt, Bruno Fernandes and Mbemo. Fernandes has missed just three games due to injury or illness in his career, and Mbemo will start all 38 league games for Brentford in the 2024-25 season. The 30-year-old Shaw was transformed into a full-time central defender by Amorim, reducing the amount of running he did on the left wing. Shaw and Yoro were completely rested against Grimsby in the Carabao Cup.
Club sources revealed that Ten Hag was the first to take the resumption of training seriously after the game, and Amorim continued this approach. Some players immediately entered the sauna and ice bath upon returning to their Carrington base on Sunday night following the win over Liverpool.
Manchester United has renovated its Carrington base worth £50 million to provide more advanced facilities. The new recovery room is equipped with yoga and Pilates mats, and the high-altitude training room can be used by multiple players at the same time. Old-time staff at the Carrington base have marveled at the technology, saying it is more advanced than most Premier League clubs. The old sauna and steam room, which were deemed too small, have been redesigned and a new basement includes a new steam and sauna room, hot and cold pools, and hydrotherapy equipment.
Manchester United's medical department has undergone major changes since long-serving doctor Steve McNally left the team in 2023. A record 66 injuries in 2023-24 led to a massive reshuffle, with former first-team physio Richard Mellon leaving before Ineos took over. Ten Hag did not bring his own fitness coach to Manchester United, but Amorim brought Paulo Varela, who has worked at Liverpool and Arsenal and has a PhD from Liverpool John Moores University, whose research topic is the prevention of hamstring injuries. Former head of sports medicine Gary O'Driscoll lured highly regarded physio Jordan Reeves from Arsenal last year.
Manchester United has learned from past mistakes. Ten Hag's high-intensity training led to the recurrence or new injuries of some players, while Amorim arranged diverse training from "game load" to "recovery days". Mount, who was once frequently injured, is now carefully protected and will be hidden if a minor problem arises. Maguire has also been treated the same way when he missed several injuries due to injuries in the past two years.