STRUDWICK: WE'RE READY FOR THE RUN-IN Fitness coach Tony Strudwick gives us an insight into his important work with the champions... How would you describe your role at Manchester United?
As Head of Fitness and Conditioning, my main priority is to ensure that the players are fit and ready for training and matches so I liaise between the medical and technical teams to plan what the players do on a day-to-day basis. How is your job affected when players go on international duty, like this week?
At Carrington we can keep control but unfortunately, when the players go away on international duty, we only have limited input. You have to communicate with the respective football associations. When Ji-sung Park was playing for South Korea, I once travelled with him to maintain the habits we have at United. What work can do you with those who aren't playing for their countries?
Five years ago, we only had two or three first-team players around but now we have a lot who have retired from international football. This allows us to adjust their training intensity so that those who feature regularly, like Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick, can recover properly. But Sir Alex and Mike Phelan maintain a very high standard and the intensity often goes up. Speaking of Giggsy, how big an achievement was it for him to reach 900 games?
It was fantastic. Ryan thinks about what he needs for the next game. He manages the support system around him by utilising the physios, the medics and both the fitness and technical teams. Incredibly, he's still banging out fantastic figures with the sports science guys. He is a credit to himself and the football club. Finally, what shape are we in for the title run-in?
Everything is coming together. The manager did well to expose the players who needed game time against Ajax. We are trying to bring them up a level so they're ready to be called on when needed. For example, Ashley Young at first needed time to recover from his injury but he looked fresh against Norwich where I thought he was terrific. There is a really good feeling around the camp and I hope we can take that feeling into the Spurs game and the rest of the season. Tony Strudwick was speaking on MUTV 's Inside Carrington programme. More: Welbeck's title hunger | Rooney: We won't panic | Schmeichel tips Reds in title race | 
