Toshack hoping to silence critics

An eighth defeat in 11 matches on Wednesday in the Rheinpark stadium would put Toshack's five-year reign under even closer scrutiny.

Despite the pressure, he may decide to go into the World Cup Group Four qualifier without teenage midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who has a back problem, and said: "A lot depends on how Aaron is. And I can hear people saying 'he's leaving Ramsey out now, he doesn't know what he's doing.'"

He added: "But Ramsey has been getting treatment on his back. It has improved and we are hopeful he will be available but even now I may not use him from the start.

"He has not played a full game at Arsenal this season. He had a full game in Finland on Saturday so it is a concern whether at this stage we push him any further.

"If they have not played a full game at club level (by October) and then we ask them to play two World Cup games in five days, it may not be the wise thing to do.

"While he is still very much developing as a player, this is something I will need to think about."

Toshack is aware his critics expect Wales to overcome the minnows from the Alps, but he said: "I am not expecting anything easy. It does not concern me what other people contemplate about what we should be doing, they should sit down and think about the conditions we are playing under.

"This has been a very difficult group. If you analyse what has happened to us throughout this group, it is horrendous. Okay, results have been disappointing and people will form their own opinions. We are all disappointed because we felt we would do better, certainly in this last year.

"To have made any inroads against Germany and Russia, who between them will have picked up 50 points by the end of the group games, was always going to be very difficult."