Sir Alex Ferguson has re-opened the annual call for a winter break, believing it could avoid the injury pile-up currently affecting Old Trafford. "Managers have always voiced their opinions in favour of a winter break. There is a campaign for it," he said.
"I think, and I have seen it for years, players carry their strains right through January. When you keep carrying a strain and you say, 'I will be all right I will play,' when you get to March it manifests itself and turns into an injury of significance.
"There are a lot of games in January. That can have an effect on players in terms of the little strains they carry. That is why managers for years have pursued the hope they will have a winter break. That is why we want one, to get rid of the little strains they carry right through December and January.
"A couple of years back we had four or five injuries in March like Gary Neville, Gabriel Heinze and Patrice Evra. It could be that the result of carrying strains is that they become injuries."