Unlike other international tournaments, the football on offer at Euro 2008 was pleasant to the eye. Spain’s ultimate triumph vindicated attacking football in the way Greece’s victory in Euro 2002 assassinated it. For that alone, world football should rejoice.

But over and above the sporting spectacle, Euro 2008 was notable for two things: First –despite the accolades that will be bestowed on FernandoTorres for scoring the winner in the final, there were no individual superstars at Euro 2008.

I know it’s a superfluous comment, but football is a team sport. Every individual relies on every one of his team-mates to win. There should be no individual honours but we as a society need to single out a person on whom to represent that collective. A person can inspire, instigate and impress. The picture of a person can be hung on a wall to motivate. A collection of people just seem to lose that focus and don’t inspire us as much as that one single man.

Euro 2008 saw the death of an individual over the collective team performance. It matters not that Fernando Torres will grab the headlines or that his picture will be splashed across all the world’s newspapers. The Spanish victory was founded on the backs of the outstanding midfield of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Marco Senna, David Silva and David Villa – not to mention the various substitutes who made their cameos along the way. Furthermore, the Spanish boasted the best combined defensive stalwarts led by captain Iker Casillas, who didn’t concede a goal in the latter stages of the tournament.

How do you find an individual performance in all of that?

Neither are the Spanish the only team who excelled despite being devoid of brilliant individuals. So, too, did their counterparts in the final, Germany. Captain Michael Ballack did show his individual brilliance, but overall, it was the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm, Torsten Frings, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Lukas Podolski who shone – the latter not even being in the starting 11 at his club.

This was echoed throughout the semi-finals, where Turkey and Russia  relied heavily on their collective spirit to get them thus far. Both teams had nothing to speak of in terms of players who were publicity magnets. And how fitting it was that when Andrei Arshavin started to get individual attention, he produced his worst game and Russia crashed out 3-0 to Spain in the semis.

Every other team where individuals were expected to make a difference failed badly, notably Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo. And every potential superstar who drew scouts to his doorstep also failed miserably, notably France’s Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri, Italy’s Luca Toni and Germany’s Mario Gomez.

In fact, it seems Spanish manager Luis Aragones’ decision to omit from his squad that most individual of individuals Raul Gonzalez was the harbinger of this collective age.

The second notable thing about Euro 2008 was that it saw a change in the paradigm of the football formation. The 4-4-2 system seems now very passé. It’s now 4-1-3-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-2-2-1, or 2-3-4-1 or even 4-2-2-2. However confusing that sounds, the only specialist roles in the Euro 2008 tactical formations seemed to be the goalkeeper, the two centre-backs and the holding midfielder.

The rest just seemed to be made up as they went along – note wingers-turned-fullbacks Russian Yuri Zhirkov, Italian Fabio Grosso and Turk Hamit Altintop. Full-backs were always expected to attack (see Russia’s Aleksandr Aniukov and Yuri Zhirkov, and Spain’s Sergio Ramos) and in some instances even score (see Holland’s Gio van Bronckhorst and Italy’s Christian Panucci).

In fact, the attacking third saw the most fluidity where wingers turned strikers (Spain’s Silva and Germany’s Schweinsteiger) and strikers turned wingers (Spain’s Villa and Germany’s Podolski). The tournament’s most exciting players like Dutchman Wesley Sneijder, Russian Andrei Arshavin and Croatia’s Luka Modric all played across the front line sometimes between, behind or even ahead of the strikers.

Strikers, too, were no longer required just to score goals, but to draw defenders out of position for deep-lying midfielders to score. Specialist strikers like the Czech Republic’s Jan Koller often found themselves out in the cold. Contrast this with the way in which German coach Joachim Low redeployed his principle striker Miroslav Klose deeper against Portugal and made him more mobile going sideways in order to open up the Portuguese defence. Holland’s Ruud van Nistelrooy will hardly ever dream of going sideways, let alone leaving the opposition penalty box.

This made Euro 2008 exciting and fascinating tactically. There was lots to admire about how teams moved – the Portuguese preferring to play short passes to try to unlock the centre of most defences, whereas the Dutch and later the Germans liked to use the width of the pitch to good effect.

The Russians attacked from very deep using both their full-backs like rockets and playing to their all-out running style to great effect. Even in substitutions, there was much to admire. Of particular note was how Turkey’s coach Fatih Terim employed Semih Senturk as a power forward and the impact he had on each of his four appearances. Against France, Dutch coach Marco van Basten replaced Orlando Engelaar and Dirk Kuyt with Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie to create width and space to get around the French defensive wall of Claude Makelele and Jeremy Toulalan with great effect.

In fact, the emphasis on attack is what differentiated this Euro tournament from the dour affairs that preceded it. The term "anchor midfielder" is often defined by Frenchman Claude Makelele and is a position that hardly ever sees the opposition penalty box. But in the finals of Euro 2008, Spanish anchor midfielder Marcos Senna came within a stud-length of scoring. Imagine that! An anchor midfielder straying out of his defensive third in a game – a final no less - where dour defensive duties and remaining in your own half would normally be the expectation, if not the emphasis, of all defensive players.

Absurd, I’m sure Claude would remark. Yet it is so. The new breed of anchor midfielders like Russia’s Sergei Semak and Germany’s Hitzlsperger will tell you that its OK to have a strike at goal.

Euro 2008 has been a good tournament. But will its attacking verve and flair translate to the rigours of the English Premier League? I doubt it. For a starter, the EPL needs its individuals and heroes in order to sell its glamour. People tune in specifically to see a Ronaldo side-step or Steve Gerrard busting his gut running through midfield. The closest we get to seeing the collective Euro 2008 philosophy in the EPL is when an Arsenal side devoid of superstars working together playing attractive interchangeable attacking football make it to the top of the league.

Unlike the Spanish, Arsenal haven’t won anything by playing pretty football. Maybe the Professor can learn something from that wily fox Aragones, whose attacking philosophy succeeded where the likes of Van Basten’s failed – you can attack all you want but you don’t win anything unless you stop conceding stupid goals.

Are you listening, Arsene?