Planet Swans ArchivesAsh was booked in Wales’ defeat last night in Macedonia and will now have to be a spectator as Wales look to return to winning ways on Tuesday in Cardiff knowing that a win could see them lift themselves to the giddy heights of third place in their group.
Now don’t get me wrong I would always like to see Wales do as well as possible but for me – and for many – club football will always be more important and I think at this stage of the season, from our point of view, it would be better if Ash had the break.
In a little over a week’s time we have a massive six days with Liverpool on the Monday, Valencia on the Thursday before returning home with an away trip to Crystal Palace on the following Sunday. And the last thing we need ahead of that in my view is our players playing twice in a week for their countries.
I also appreciate that playing for Wales means a massive amount to Ash and I suspect he will be gutted to miss out on Tuesday night but from a Swansea perspective with a 50 game season minimum ahead of us, I would rather the majority of his games were in a Swansea shirt especially as Wales hopes of qualification have long since passed.
Up and down the Premier League there are currently club managers worrying long and hard about the players they have lost to international duty this week. All will be hoping that their players come back unscathed from these games,
Interestingly Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has also been ruled out of Tuesday’s game against Ukraine which could help us no end as well if he misses out on Monday week.
We can hope anyway!
