“It’s probably linked, yes,” Solskjaer said when asked if their more intense playing style might have caused their injuries, as cited by the Mirror.
“When do you make that change, do you wait until pre-season and think you will change results by just not asking them to run, or do we start now and show them what the demands of intensity are and how we want to play?
“And, of course, you have seen what I have chosen. I have chosen that we need to play as a Man United team, and if you want to be a part of Man United, it’s a survival of the fittest, isn’t it?”
Mata, Matic and Herrera have all found themselves on the sidelines ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Selhurst Park as well as Rashford, Martial and Lingard. Ole has urged the ageing trio to address their standards of preparation.
“They are getting older aren’t they, Juan, Nemanja, Ander?” the Norwegian added. “So it’s about the preparation, the standards that you have to live up to on and off the pitch as a Man United player, and as a professional player in the Premier League, it’s not just turning up playing and training and then going home and doing all these little out-of-football activities that we have all seen too many footballers doing.
“That was a big part of my career, as long as you are a footballer and you play in the Premier League, make the most of it because suddenly you get these injuries and you are done. And that wasn’t a nice feeling, that is when I decided I wanted to stay in football and start coaching, but I tried to make the most of it by living the life as I should have been.”