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TOSHACK FRUSTRATED BY LIMITED OPTIONS
By Paul Walker
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Photo: images.sportinglife.com
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John Toshack faces the toughest task of his Wales management
bemoaning the "cruel misfortunes" that have overtaken his squad.
The national boss is contemplating the daunting task of trying to stop
a Russia side who are rightly regarded as one of the best in Europe after
their Euro 2008 exploits.
And Toshack, ever the realist, can see the differences between how he
has to manage Wales, and the strength that rival boss Guus Hiddink has.
Hiddink is able to tell Spurs he will play striker Roman Pavlyuchenko
regardless of their pleas to leave the ?13.8million new boy out because
of a minor ankle problem.
When Toshack faced a similar problem with his best player Craig Bellamy
- when West Ham wanted him left at home because of a hamstring injury
- the outcome was very different.
He had to accept the player would not be involved in Wednesday's World
Cup qualifier here in the Lokomotiv stadium.
He said: "It depends on how big a country you are with things like
that. We felt that Craig could have played 60 minutes maybe against Azerbaijan
and not travel to Moscow, but it was never going to happen."
Toshack has also had to contend with the shock international retirement
of Paul Parry midway through the international break, while Jason Koumas
has returned to Wigan for more treatment on his ankle problem, despite
playing for most of Saturday's match against Azerbaijan.
Toshack would not discuss Parry's situation, but alluded to the 10 days
players are away from their families - when they may not play matches
- as a key reason behind such dissatisfaction.
Add all this to the amount of retirements and long-term injuries Wales
have been hit by, and Toshack's "cruel" remark is more understandable.
Against the Euro 2008 semi-finalists, Toshack will probably go into the
game with 18-year-old Sam Vokes as a solo striker with raw recruits all
around.
He has even been denied the chance of pushing the excellent Gareth Bale
into a more attacking role to compensate for Koumas' absence, because
Sam Ricketts has been struck down with shingles while in the Russian capital
and Bale will have to stay at left-back.
So Wales will probably recall veteran Carl Robinson to help create a defensive
shield aiming to curtail the damaging influences of Andrei Arshavin and
Pavlyuchenko.
When Wales came to this same stadium four years ago, they achieved a remarkable
0-0 draw with a much more experienced side, and were only a win away in
Cardiff against the Russians from the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal.
Welsh observers privately fear a much different result in Moscow this
time around.
Toshack said: "I don't want to talk about Parry, I'd rather focus
on the players who are here. Some players say they are not involved, but
all the subs should feel they are involved.
"This job can be very frustrating. Nobody likes not being involved,
and ten days away from your family can be hard."
Maybe Toshack sees a similarity with Jamie Carragher's remarks about the
importance of international football, he said: "That was no doubt
an honest assessment of how he feels."
Toshack feels, no doubt, that many of his problems are created by clubs.
He said: "I have never seen as many problems that I get from English
clubs and managers.
"It was never like this when I worked in Turkey and Spain. I must
admit we have had to suffer cruel misfortunes over the years I have been
manager.
"Maybe we should try to do something about these 10-day stints away
and two matches. You wonder how things are going with players, they have
families and don't want to be away that amount of time."
Now Toshack has to devise a system with the limited experience in his
squad, to contain the Russians.
He said: "We have beaten Slovakia and Bulgaria away with some of
these lads, and drawn in Germany. I hope we can achieve something similar
again, but we have got a very difficult mission.
"We will have to grit our teeth and defend. But we do have our own
aspirations and we can do some damage ourselves."
Toshack is not convinced about who to play as the loan striker. Vokes'
winner against Azerbaijan gives him the edge over Robert Earnshaw and
Ched Evans.
Captain Simon Davies admitted to being shocked by Parry's departure, but
insists: "The kids in our squad are not scared of the game ahead.
They are really looking forward to it, to show what they can do against
top opposition.
"After the length of time Paul had been out for personal reasons
before his recent return, maybe it is clear now that he feels he would
rather not play for Wales.
"It is not easy when you are not getting a chance to play and you
want to do well for your country. You just have to accept what has happened
and move on."
Sportinglife.com,
10/09/08
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