New Europeans

• Euro 2008 started last Saturday and my thoughts so far are :-

- Greece winning in 2004 has inspired the "lesser" teams (which is what Greece were in 2004) to copy the Greek style of play. That is defend with 2 rows of four and score the odd goal from a quick break. Well that's what Romania did tonight. This does not make for great spectacle!

- If you're English and your missing the "supporting England depression" watch France and try to will them to win (hard I know but Arsenal fans may find it easier). Based on their first game they had lots of the most talented players of their generation but not a clue on how to break down a well organised defence. Sound familiar? All they really lacked was a "wally with a brolly"

- Talking of which, BBC coverage allows you to watch the BBC pictures, but also listen to the Radio Five commentary. Which is great but every so often the analysis is by said Wally and he's better at team management than he is adding colour to the listening public's aural experience.

- When England failed to qualify, the organisers breathed a sigh of relief as that meant no England fans. Instead they got Croatia and their fans are.....worse than England, they picked a fight with the Austrians!

- Finally, much has been made in England as to who you are supporting as we didn't qualify. Not an easy decision and actually the best advice I've heard was the comedian Frank Skinner's. We all have teams we hate so go through the tournament supporting the teams they are playing and actually you can really get into the whole thing!