Chris Coleman has questioned why Arsenal did not rest Aaron Ramsey at the start of the season – and suggested the Wales midfielder’s injury could have been avoided.
Ramsey is out of Wales’ opening World Cup qualifier against Moldova on September 5 with a hamstring strain.
His absence was the biggest disappointment for Coleman when the manager named his squad on Wednesday.
Ramsey played in Arsenal’s 4-3 Premier League defeat to Liverpool on August 14, having only been back in training for two weeks after helping Wales reach the semi-final of Euro 2016.
The midfielder suffered another hamstring problem which is expected to keep him out for around a month.
In contrast, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger allowed Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny extra time to recover after their involvement at Euro 2016, and Coleman believes only Arsenal can answer why Ramsey was treated differently.
“I think we all expected Aaron to (miss the start of the season), so I don’t know what happened between then and when he ended up on the pitch,” said Coleman.
“Obviously only Arsenal can answer that. “I think, to a man, if you were looking at that (team-sheet), it was a bit of a surprise he started. I think Aaron said himself (in France) that he wasn’t expecting to.
“If you look at his physical stats, they are higher than anybody on the pitch in terms of his high-intensity sprints and the kilometres he covers. But he’s still a human being, and it’s not like we were knocked out in the group stage.
“It was a long tournament for Aaron, after a long, hard season. So I don’t know why he was treated differently.”
Coleman has previously accused wenger of a cheap shot after the Frenchman blamed Wales for Ramsey suffering a hamstring strain in a Champions League tie against Bayern Munich – a week after he had played for his country.
Wenger said Wales could have rested Ramsey for their final Euro 2016 game against Andorra after securing qualification, but Coleman argued there had been no contact from Arsenal and he took that as a “green light” to play him.
“I think Arsenal have a certain way of doing things,” said Coleman. “A lot has been said about their injury list, they’re doing the same things now as what they’ve always done – they’re not going to change now.
“That’s up to them, Aaron is Arsenal’s player. But I’ve got to say that I’m disappointed because we’ve lost a great player – and I think anyone would understand that disappointment.
“I’m not going to say, ‘In hindsight’, because I’m doing a job myself and I make decisions and sometimes look back and think I shouldn’t have made that decision.
“So I won’t use that against Arsenal. Could it have been prevented? Possibly, yes. But the fact is we haven’t got him, unfortunately.”