Ramsey to miss out Liechtenstein game

John Toshack will be looking for a much-needed victory against Liechtenstein tonight to lift the pressure following a disappointing year.

The Wales boss admits his side “have gone backwards, results-wise, over the past 12 months.”

An eighth defeat in 11 matches in the Rheinpark stadium would put Toshack’s five-year reign under even closer scrutiny.

Despite the pressure, he may decide to go into the World Cup Group Four qualifier without teenage midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who has a back problem.

Toshack could instead move defender Ashley Williams into midfield, and said: “A lot depends on how Aaron is. And I can hear people saying ‘he’s leaving Ramsey out now, he doesn’t know what he’s doing’.

“But Ramsey has been getting treatment on his back. It has improved and we are hopeful he will be available but even now I may not use him from the start.

“He has not played a full game at Arsenal this season. He had a full game in Finland on Saturday so it is a concern whether at this stage we push him any further.

“If they have not played a full game at club level (by October) and then we ask them to play two World Cup games in five days, it may not be the wise thing to do.

“While he is still very much developing as a player, this is something I will need to think about.”

Toshack is aware his critics expect Wales to overcome the minnows from the Alps, but he said: “I am not expecting anything easy. It does not concern me what other people contemplate about what we should be doing, they should sit down and think about the conditions we are playing under.

“This has been a very difficult group. If you analyse what has happened to us throughout this group, it is horrendous.

“Okay, results have been disappointing and people will form their own opinions. We are all disappointed because we felt we would do better, certainly in this last year.

“To have made any inroads against Germany and Russia, who between them will have picked up 50 points by the end of the group games, was always going to be very difficult.

“I will be interested to see how we react from Saturday’s defeat, now we have lost our goalkeeper (Wayne Hennessey) and skipper (Craig Bellamy) to suspensions. That’s 10 people out from the squad that was first announced.

“We want to go out and finish with a win, but anyone who thinks it will be easy is kidding themselves. They have drawn with Finland here and lost only 1-0 to Russia, that shows what they are capable of.

“So who do we think we are if we say we can come here and it will be a walk-over? Particularly with the absentees that we have.

“We have not had any hidings, and that would have made it more difficult for the youngsters. You don’t want their heads to go down, they have a big future ahead of them.”

Aston Villa defender James Collins will captain Wales for the first time, and Toshack said: “Collins is the fourth captain we have had in this group, and that says a lot about our situation. It underlines the constant changes we have had to cope with.”