The first round of Euro 2012 games: a reflection

The first round of games has been very much a mixed bag. Ukraine v Sweden looked like the worst game of the tournament for the first 50 minutes. Then Sheva decided it would be be a great time to roll back the years. Penny for Roman's thoughts. I'm pretty sure the former Chelsea and Milan striker made his debut for Ukraine in 1955. Even though the country didn't exist back then. But there seems to be a real dearth of quality from the early evidence. The England v France and Italy v Spain games could not show a greater contrast of one all draws. The former was as uninspired as it could get, but this is pretty much what everyone expected from Roy Hodgson's England. France were a major disappointment though. Benzema, Ribery and Nasri were good in patches, but although they may be 22 games unbeaten, Les Bleus are unlikely to worry the latter stages of the tournament. The heat was being trotted out by journalists as a factor long before the game even started. It's not as if England decided to base themselves in Poland. Oh wait..... yes there have been injuries, suspensions and loss of form, but Hodgson is nothing if not pragmatic and I'm not sure what the pundits and fans were expecting. On that note, a moment to consider ITV's early coverage of the tournament. As if Adrian Chiles' smug patronising tone and Gareth Southgate's apparent cowardice of a certain former Ireland international skipper weren't enough. Any semblance of sophistication they hoped to gain with their outside cafe set was destroyed when Gordon Strachan reared his head as one of the pundits. Plus why wouldn't you ask a random Italian to give us his expert insight on the game. And no Adrian, he doesn't know what Twitter is. Neither does Strachan. And that just about trumps the expected diving, imaginary yellow card waving and a drab England performance as the major bugbear of the tournament so far. The World and European champions encounter with the 2006 World Cup winners was anything but dull with a couple of unorthodox formations. Spain went for the strikerless formation a la Barcelona. Could have worked well, but the was one missing ingredient. No Messi. And since when did the term false nine become such a common part of football parlance? Italy on the other hand, were pretty impressive. I'm sure Kevin Keegan was smiling somewhere at their reinvention of 3-5-2. Christian Maggio is clearly better on the right of that formation than in a 4-4-2 (ask the Russians) and Pirlo still looks and plays like he's in his mid 20s. Super Mario wasn't loco as he could have been, and it was great to see the ITV commentators have their pensioner jokes shoved back down their throat within minutes of Antonio di Natale coming on. Not a classic, but probably the best technical game of the tournament so far. And this is probably the last Euros that anyone will really enjoy. 16 teams is the perfect number, UEFA have settled on a great formula. But why would that matter when there's loads of money at stake. Who can seriously suggest the likes of play-off losers Estonia, Montenegro and maybe even Bosnia and Herzegovina would dilute the quality? Yes that includes Edin Dzeko. There are not 24 teams in Europe good enough to grace this competition. Although at least it gives hope to Wales and Scotland. They might actually qualify for something, so they can channel their summer aggression into a route other than just supporting England's opponents. Lastly, as a Liverpool fan, it was great to see Danny Agger be so imperious against Holland. And he's a qualified tattoo artist to boot. Mental. On that note, adios.

Euro 2012: what really annoys me

As it's been a while I thought I should get back into the swing of things. I have a proper job now so things have been a little bit hectic but I will upload a proper post after England start their Euro 2012 campaign with a gallant defeat at the hands of their Gallic neighbours (see what I did there). I've found myself getting increasingly annoyed with so much to do with football and a major championships was never going to be any different, be it diving, the imaginary card-waving antics of some players or ITV's curious decision to broadcast from an outside TV set in a Polish cafe. Any attempt to appear sophisticated fell down when Gordon Strachan was introduced as one of the pundits. Stay tuned....