Allen can’t remember his collision, says Hughes
STOKE City boss Mark Hughes says midfield ace Joe Allen “cannot remember anything” about the collision that saw him forced off with concussion during Wales’ World Cup qualifier with the Republic of Ireland on Monday.
Allen was replaced midway through the first half of the bruising contest at the Cardiff City Stadium, after being sandwiched between James McClean and David Meyler.
It quickly transpired the 27-year-old had suffered a heavy blow to the head and, as a precaution, was promptly subsituted.
Further assessments confirmed the former Swansea City star had a severe concussion, with Hughes even claiming that the midfielder was finding it hard to remember the incident.
“Joe’s not great,” admitted Hughes ahead of Stoke’s Premier League game at Manchester City this afternoon.
“We’ve given him a couple of days to stay at home. He came in on Thursday, felt a lot better, but I think the reality is he’s unlikely to be available this weekend.
“Concussion’s a thing you can’t take any risk with, we’ve got to follow the protocol. Hopefully he’ll show some improvement and be ready to come back and train next week.
“He had a bang to the head. He found it difficult to remember the incident itself, that tells you where he’s at in terms of the severity of it. He doesn’t remember anything. We’ve got to be very careful. “We’re being guided by the medical people here. At the moment he’s not in a position to return to training. You’ve got to go through each process and make sure you’re 100 per cent OK to proceed to the next step and we have to just wait until Joe’s ready.”
The incident was widely cited as a game-changer by many fans as Wales eventually fell to a 1-0 defeat – a result that ended their hopes of a first World Cup finals berth since 1958.
However, Hughes doesn’t accept suggestions that the Irish may have targeted Allen.
“I suppose you could argue it might be a realistic statement because he’s a good player. Certainly Joe for Wales and for us is very influential. But I haven’t seen that.
“At the time my initial thought was that it wasn’t deliberate. Joe doesn’t have any recollection, so he wouldn’t have a view on it. But I don’t think so.
“You don’t deliberately go to hurt someone and target their head. The lad’s knee, or something hard and firm, has hit him to cause the injury.
“There are certain incidents that in slow motion look a little bit premeditated. But actually when the incident happened I don’t think anybody thought it was deliberate. We don’t have any issue with it.”
AT the end of a turbulent week for Welsh football one fundamental issue still remains – does Chris Coleman stay as Wales manager, or does he leave?
The trauma of what happened against the Republic of Ireland will probably never be forgotten, but Coleman knows it is only when the emotions have subsided that a cool-headed, rational and honest decision can be made on his future.
And ultimately the call is his. The FA of Wales want Coleman to stay, the senior players want him to stay, a chunky proportion of the fan base wants him to stay... but deep down what does he really want to do?
Change is never easy. Retaining the status quo is always the more simple option, particularly for a conservative organisation like the FAW, who have been loyal to their managers in recent times anyway.
But the question Coleman has to ask himself is: ‘Have I taken this Wales team as far as I can?’
If the answer to that is no, then there is more than enough goodwill for Coleman to carry on in the job and he should. If he feels the answer is yes, then he probably needs to walk away and let somebody else have a go.
It’s hardly black and white though, particularly when ‘Don’t Go’ pleas from the very players Coleman has shared this spectacular journey with are pulling away at his soul.
Coleman is one of the most searingly honest individuals I have met in football, self-critical, pragmatic, prepared to hold up his hands when he has erred.
His is a wonderfully refreshing attitude in an era when Premier League managers invariably seek to place blame elsewhere – be it the referee, bounce of the ball, a supposedly unfair fixture schedule – when their team has lost a big football match.
Coleman doesn’t do excuses. Didn’t on Monday night. If Wales have lost, as they did, he holds up his hands and, if necessary, fully accepts his portion of blame as manager.
As such, Coleman knows he takes the main responsibility for his team being out of the World Cup mix.
If Northern Ireland can get into the play-offs from a group containing Germany, the Czech Republic, Norway and Azerbaijan, and Iceland top a pool with Croatia, Ukraine, Turkey and Finland in it, then for Wales this has to be viewed as an opportunity missed.
Wales have superior players to the two Irelands and Iceland. Their group was probably easier. Thanks to Coleman’s man-management, Wales also have every ounce of togetherness and team spirit that the success of those other countries is built upon.
So, ultimately it probably has to come down to the man at the helm, does it not? If Italy win their play-off, seven of the last eight at Euro 2016 will be in Russia. The exception is Wales.
Coleman is as proud a Welshman as you will get, and will be hurting more deeply than most. In his own mind, he will be poring over what he could, and should, have done differently to effect a better outcome to the campaign.
If he stays, lessons learned will hold Coleman and his team in good stead for a crack at Euro 2020.
But that nagging question still remains. Will he stay?
Being the honest person that he is, Coleman has made no secret of his wish to leave once Wales’ World Cup experience is over, keen to sample day-to-day club management.
He really fancies a crack abroad again, having tried his hand thus far in Spain and Greece.
Three Premier League clubs – Crystal Palace, Swansea City and Hull – have wanted him in recent
times. Why wouldn’t a chairman go for a man who can place Wales’ spectacular surge as a footballing force on his CV?
Coleman’s instincts were always to leave after almost six years in the job. As such, you sensed Monday night was the end of the line.
Then came the crescendo of goodwill from the fans, the FAW, even his own players. It is bound to influence Coleman’s thinking. For good or for bad.
But he knows, through his own experience, even the staunch backing from the players is something of a doubleedged sword. The senior players didn’t want Coleman in the first place and were calling for Gary Speed’s old No.2 Raymond Verheijen to have a major role and the status quo retained back then.
With a change of manager comes inevitable change and uncertainty. Yet it is only after Coleman started doing things his own way, having tried to mirror Speed for the first 12 months of his tenure, that Wales suddenly began having their roaring success.
It’s not about familiarity meaning players are complacent, assured of their places or in a comfort zone. They have come too far for that. However, Coleman will be wondering if new ideas and fresh impetus is required to take Wales onto the next level this team is undoubtedly capable of.
The last thing he will want is to stay for the wrong reasons and see the very success he has so splendidly built up start to head downhill because things have become stale.
Despite Wales’ failure to reach Russia, Coleman has enough in the bank to be afforded the huge support coming his way. He has it from this writer, too.
Under his management, Welsh football has been taken to unprecedented heights, a ‘Together Stronger’ mantra uniting a nation behind our national side.
But eras do come to an end. Coleman is considering whether his is over with Wales, or whether he can give three more years with the same zest, energy and passion that he has shown over the last five.
That’s asking a lot when deep down you want to be in club management and could be eyeing vacant jobs, offering five times the salary, wondering if that would be a better fit today.
Part of the problem with Coleman going is the theory of a lack of a suitable replacement. But there are plenty of highly-capable and experienced managers out there, or even would-be ones like Welsh legends Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy eager to follow in the footsteps of Mark Hughes and Gary Speed.
Coleman won’t concern himself with that, though. It would be the job of the FAW to seek a new manager, and the right one, should that scenario arise.
What Coleman has to do is decide what is best for himself and, more importantly, for Welsh football, attempting to shut out the external, and even internal, influences as part of the equation.
Everyone will have their own opinion on whether Coleman should stay or go. Mine? The truth is I don’t know one way or the other, to be honest.
More importantly, nor does Chris Coleman right at this moment in time.