There was much talk about who Arsene Wenger would pick for Arsenal’s first League match against Liverpool, and most readers agreed that Aaron Ramsey would not be one of the starters after his elongated exertions at the Euro2016 tournament with Wales.
But of course Wenger picked the midfielder, and Ramsey of course went down with a hamstring injury and will miss the next month including Wales’ first World Cup Qualifiers. The Welsh manager Chris Coleman was left wondering why Ramsey was risked ahead of other players that were fitter and had been training longer.
Coleman told reporters.”It’s disappointing he’s got an injury. Could it have been prevented? Possibly, yes,”
“I think we all expected him to (miss the start of the season), so I don’t know what happened between and when he ended up on the pitch.
“I think, to a man, if you were looking at that (team sheet against Liverpool), it was a bit of a surprise he started.
“I think Aaron said himself (in France) that he wasn’t expecting to.”
Personally I think Coleman is right to criticize Wenger, as Ramsey himself expressed at the beginning of July: “I am back on 1 August, so I have a few weeks off but, obviously, it kicks off a couple of weeks afterwards,” he said. “A few years ago, Germany won the World Cup and the German players came in just a few days before the first game of the season, but they missed that. He [Wenger] does like to give players a little break and I’ll be getting the same treatment. I feel I need a few weeks off now.”
So what is the verdict? Did Wenger bring Ramsey back too early and risk injury for no reason?
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