Although most Arsenal fans would argue that Aaron Ramsey is NOT a right-winger, we are still not going to be happy that the Welshman is set to be out for at least a month because of a new hamstring injury.
He pulled up in the Bayern Munich game after an intense fortnight where he played for Arsenal against Man United, followed by two full games for the Welsh national team as they secured a berth in a major final for the first time in over 50 years.
Then he was thrown straight back in with two full matches in three days against Watford and Bayern Munich. It is no surprise that a few Arsenal players have been stretched recently, and Wenger has also admitted that he saw it coming. “Maybe he was overloaded a little bit with games.” Le Prof said on ESPN. “Ideally I think neither him nor Bale should have played against Andorra, because they were qualified, but unfortunately I could not decide that.
“I was in a position after that where I thought I could rest him against Watford. In the end I didn’t do it and of course after, against Bayern, I had not much choice and we got punished.
“Ideally he should have had a breather at Watford. Realistically, the real breather he could have had was against Andorra.”
So who’s fault is it? I fully understand Ramsey wanting to play in the last Euro Qualifier so that he could celebrate their brilliant achievement with the rest of their country. Okay he could have watched it from the sidelines, but if you were a Welsh international would you want to sit on the bench?
But the Watford game? Well, Wenger admitted that he knew Ramsey needed a break, and he already knew that he had played both games for Wales – so shouldn’t Le Prof have played safe by resting him against a reasonably easy Watford team to have him fresh for Bayern Munich?