http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...ngland&cc=4716
Former City coach blames Mancini for injury toll
A former manc coach has blamed Mancini's "crazy" training methods 4 the club's growing injury toll. Raymond Verheijen, who joined the club under 4mer manager Mark Hughes & continued 4 the 2nd half of last season when Mancini took charge, has hit out via Twitter @ Mancini's gruelling training regime, which includes double sessions on some days, saying he "feels sorry 4 the players".
Carlos Tevez & former player Craig Bellamy hv publicly criticised the workload under Mancini. City released a statement defending their methods against Verheijen's attacks, insinuating the Dutchman is bitter abt hving his contract terminated @ the end of last season.
Despite their star-studded squad, City r struggling with injuries & Mancini has only 3 fit defenders 2 choose fr 4 Saturday's visit of Chelsea.
Verheijen wrote on his Twitter account @raymondverheije on Thursday: "I just read an article abt the enermous amt of injuries @ manc. Hopefully Mancini will finally question his training methods. I really feel 4 the manc players. They r having a difficult time. Hopefully none of them will suffer a career threatening injury."
Verheijen, who has been working with Bellamy @ Cardiff City, added: "Thankfully ... Craig Bellamy was able 2 escape tis training regime 2 save his career."
In an interview with FC Business magazine, Verheijen claimed manc went fr being the fittest & most injury-free in the Premier League using his methods under Hughes to becoming the current injury-plagued outfit directly as a result of Mancini's training schedule.
"During pre-season & the 1st half of last season Mark Hughes had all his players available," Verheijen said. "City played each game with the same team. The team had the best Prozone [computer data] statistics of the Premier League during the 1st part of the season. The players had the highest number of sprints & the highest total sprinting distance of all the Premier League teams.
"After the arrival of Mancini things changed dramatically. He probably did not even look @ the Prozone statistics & our best-injury record in the Premier League. He decided players had 2 do double sessions many times a week. Those sessions often lasted 4 2 hrs. Not surprisingly the players picked up 8 soft-tissue injuries within the 1st 2 wks of Mancini."
A City spokesman dismissed Verheijen's comments as sour grapes, saying on Thursday: "Mr Verheijen appears 2 hv become a regular critic of Roberto Mancini's training methods, perhaps not entirely coincidentally since his consultancy services @ manc were terminated by the club several months ago. We wish him well in his future practice."