Euros

Only been watching bits and parts (pits and barts) of games the last couple of days. But feels a bit slow. Bit turgid, bit stick the kettle on. Really wanted Wales to win, but the biggest disappointment was how deep they sat. Just invited on pressure and handed England time to pick their passes and set up camp in the Welsh half. And it seems as though this formula is being followed by pretty much every team out there against reputable opposition. It means that players such as Nuri Sahin, Joey Allen (yes), Aaron Ramsey and Tommy Rosicky are spending far too much time shuffling, jogging and watching as the other side knocks it about. Their own managers have no desire to press, win the ball back quickly and keep it. It's pretty fucking dull. What has been mentioned here and there is the new format: with 3 teams going through, there's less incentive to go out and there really hunt a game down on the front foot. I also think, perhaps, that there's a lack of fresh-thinking managerial talent working behind these sides, able to organise and direct a team to do something a bit different, and to do it well. The World Cup gave us Sampaoli and Pekermen of Chile and Columbia, two forward-thinking tacticians intent on stretching out the pitch with wingers, with playmakers capable of finding them when in possession and then making it small, narrow and ugly without the ball. There's not much of that going at all in France at the minute.

This all means that 'bigger' teams are getting away with being unimaginative, below-par and, well, simply boring at the minute. England is an obvious case in-point, but Germany, France, Portugal and Spain are in there as well. Not one of those four latter teams has put in a performance anywhere near worthy of the grade 'world-class', in my book. Hopefully things start picking as we head into the knockout phase.