Alex Ferguson believes international friendlies are a waste of time and admits that clubs often pay a high price because of them.
Manchester United's championship rivals Arsenal are the latest victims. They were struck a double blow on Wednesday when Martin Keown and Lee Dixon were both hurt during England's friendly against France at Wembley.
Ferguson said: "I don't think you can dismiss the problems with international friendlies. To my mind it's a waste of time. "Look at England this week. They lost the game and had a couple of injuries so the managers who let the players go for a friendly will be feeling quite miffed."
Ferguson had an anxious wait for defender Jaap Stam to return from Holland's game against Portugal. Reports of a hamstring strain proved unfounded.
"It's a difficult situation, but when the real matches come you do your best to help all the players and their countries and we're always able to do that," said Ferguson. Friendlies are a different matter, according to the United manager. "Some years ago we lost Bryan Robson three days before we played Arsenal in the FA Cup and we lost the game 2-1. We had to ask ourselves if we would have done better with Bryan in the side."
