Wales manager Chris Coleman has hit back at Arsene Wenger in the Aaron Ramsey injury row and accused his Arsenal counterpart of a taking an unnecessary and unwarranted “cheap shot” at him.
As BBC Sport reports, Wenger attributes Ramsey’s one-month layoff with a hamstring problem, and Gareth Bale’s unavailability for Real Madrid, to them playing for Wales against Andorra on October 13.
Coleman is unhappy that Wenger has publicly pointed the finger of blame at him and his Wales staff, because the Gunners boss did not contact him to inform him of the 24-year-old’s fitness issues.
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Coleman was announcing his squad for next week’s friendly against Netherlands, and added: “I’m not going to sit back and let someone put blame on us. Our job is hard enough as managers without us having a chip at each other, especially a cheap shot which is exactly what it was”, according to BBC Sport.
“If I get no correspondence from a club regarding their players that is a green light for us to play the player. And there was no correspondence from Arsenal from Wenger or his medical team.
“If he’s got a problem with Aaron Ramsey, pick the phone up and tell me. He called Roy Hodgson on Theo Walcott. He shouldn’t comment on Gareth Bale as that has nothing to do with Arsenal”
Wenger’s annoyance likely comes from the fact that Wales had already qualified for next summer’s Euro 2016 finals before their last qualifier, and seemingly feels that Ramsey would have benefitted from a rest.
But, as BBC Sport cites, Coleman shrewdly pointed out at his press conference that the midfielder returned from international duty with no complaints and started for Arsenal against Watford the following weekend, scoring the third goal in a 3-0 away victory, and completing 90 minutes.
It was only an hour into the Champions League win over Bayern Munich three days later that Ramsey pulled up. Would that have happened had Wenger spared him the final quarter of an hour at Watford?
Ramsey is on a lengthy Arsenal injury list, summarised in the Metro, for tonight’s reverse fixture in Munich, and Sunday’s North London derby with Tottenham Hotspur. Coleman’s evidence clearly suggests that, in the case of the Welshman at least, the blame lays at Arsenal’s door rather than his.
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