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Louis van Gaal rejected accusations his training caused Luke Shaw to suffer a hamstring injury and insisted that Manchester United have plenty of cover for their new signing. - Nine missing for United opener
- Payne: Five Manchester United questions Former Wales assistant manager Raymond Verheijen blamed his fellow Dutchman after Shaw was ruled out for a month. Verheijen, who was an outspoken critic of United's former manager David Moyes, had written on Twitter: "LVG is tactically superior to most other coaches but planning & periodisation is not his strongest point: double sessions & muscles injuries." However, Van Gaal, who had said during the club's preseason tour of America that Shaw was not fit enough, insists there are six possible reasons he was hurt and was adamant he had not over-trained the left-back. And while United sold Patrice Evra and Alexander Buttner in the summer to leave Shaw the only specialist senior left-back or left wing-back in their squad, Van Gaal is adamant they can cope. The 62-year-old is interested in Sporting Lisbon's Marcos Rojo and Ajax's Daley Blind but said he believes converted winger Ashley Young and youngster Reece James can continue to prosper in Shaw's absence. Van Gaal told a news conference: "We have played in the United States with Reece James and Ashley Young in that position so we are very well covered. I am very confident, I am not nervous." The United manager felt the World Cup, jet lag and United's crowded preseason programme could all account for Shaw's hamstring problem, but insisted he had worked players harder in his days at Ajax, AZ, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. He added: "We have analysed that and it is difficult to lay a finger on it. It is always difficult to look for the solution but of course there are a lot of reasons that can be the cause. "The first reason is the World Cup. The second reason is the travelling and the jet lag in the United States. The third is that he hasn't trained physically and when you play matches [without training] that is always the question. "The fourth reason is maybe that he didn't come fit. The fifth reason is maybe the travelling back and that we had another match on Tuesday [against Valencia] -- that was also difficult. "The sixth reason was the amount of training sessions. But we are doing half of what I have done with the other clubs so we cannot assume we were doing that wrong."
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