Ramsey calls for Wales consistency

13 October 2009 07:15
The 18-year-old midfielder will be entrusted with the key playmaker role against Liechtenstein on Wednesday when Wales try to find some pride at the end of a deeply disappointing World Cup campaign.[LNB]Their 2-1 defeat in Helsinki on Saturday ended any hopes of finishing third in qualifying Group Four.[LNB]And apart from a seemingly encouraging first-half spell when they equalised with a Craig Bellamy goal, Wales fell away badly in a spiritless second period that lacked drive, leadership and purpose.[LNB]Now they face bottom of the group Liechtenstein, a game they surely dare not lose for the sake of their own prestige but one that has all the makings of a shock result for the erratic Wales youngsters.[LNB]Ramsey said: "We can play some good football like we showed when we scored our goal (in Helsinki), but we need to be doing that on a more regular basis throughout the game and not just in patches. We have to lift ourselves up now."[LNB]Youngsters notoriously blow hot and cold in games, and John Toshack bemoaned the lack of an experienced head in his midfield to organise and teach the Wales players how to pace themselves throughout a match.[LNB]Liechtenstein, who lost 2-0 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff a year ago, are currently bottom of the group without a win in their nine qualifiers, drawing just twice.[LNB]But they could lift themselves off the bottom if they beat Wales and fifth-placed Azerbaijan lose at home to Russia.[LNB]Ramsey said: "We are under no illusions that this is going to be a very hard game for us, we are not guaranteed the win by a long way.[LNB]"It will be very hard to break them down but we will keep going until the last minute of the game.[LNB]"We will try to play passing football, if we get one in the first 10 minutes then great, but if it takes until the last minute of the game, so be it, we must produce some consistency in our game."[LNB]Ramsey maintains Wales must start performing against the lesser sides in their group if they are to progress.[LNB]He said: "We have had good performances away from home against bigger opposition as in Russia and Germany.[LNB]"But we have lost twice to Finland now. We wanted to win the game there on Saturday and we felt positive and thought that we had a really good chance of winning and finishing above them.[LNB]"We really need to start getting results against teams like these to help put us in good shape for future championships because we really want to qualify and do well in competitions."[LNB]After a week of injury and withdrawal turmoil, Wales arrived in the Liechtenstein capital on Monday night with a full 18-man squad.[LNB]The final piece of a complicated jigsaw of flights to and from the UK, eventually saw uncapped Walsall winger Mark Bradley meet up with the squad when they arrived in Zurich.[LNB]The previous day in Helsinki, MK Dons striker Jermaine Easter, the under-21 skipper Shaun MacDonald and Leicester's Andy King had arrived to bolster a squad that had lost Wayne Hennessey and Craig Bellamy to suspension, to make it 10 players from the original squad now missing.[LNB]Toshack said: "I'm just relieved to have a full squad, and that nobody picked up any injuries in training."[LNB][LNB]

Source: Team_Talk