"The operation was a succe s but the patient is dead"Following a dismal display against Ukraine and then a significantly improved performance against England in their second group game, the Swedes find their Euro 2012 adventure in Poland and Ukraine over before it has even had chance to get started. If anything it is this early tournament exit for Sweden that illustrates the importance of not being slow out of the starting blocks if you will, and Jrue Holiday Jersey getting a positive result in your opening fixture. A lo s in the first game puts significant pre sure on a team knowing that if they lose their next fixture then they will be more than likely be knocked out of the competition if results in other matches do not go their way. Erik Hamren summed up Swedens Euro 2012 campaign in an unorthodox, amusing but perfectly accurate manner this week the operation went well but the patient is dead. Whilst the Swedish hopes for Euro 2012 succe s have long since faded the signs that Sweden are moving forward in the right direction are clear especially after the display against England at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv on Friday evening. With the fluid football and attacking mentality that was mi sing against Ukraine making an appearance against England, there is the general belief that Hamrens methods have reached the squad and that they have been acknowledged and taken on board, the opening fixture against Ukraine having been put down to the subconscious cowardly way of approaching tournament football that became trademarked by Sweden during the decade long Lars Lagerback era has been forgotten with Hamren now hoping for a positive performance against France and then time to rea se s and rebuild ahead of the Darius Miller Jersey 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. Sweden will be coming up against a French side who still have a considerable amount to play for with progre sion to the knockout stages not yet being secured following a draw with England on match day one and a 2-0 win against Ukraine that was achieved e sentially at a canter and there is still a chance that a positive performance from Sweden could still upset the apple cart and have an effect on the final outcome of Group D.Swedish PreparationSweden will approach tomorrows fixture with France in the knowledge that they will be without Johan Elmander and Rasmus Elm whom Hamren does not want to risk after the two have suffered from a metatarsal problem and a virus respectively. This opens up a place in the attacking midfield trio and the role of lone striker is now vacated with Ola Toivonen expected to return to the side in either of those capacities. It is expected that Ola Toivonen will return to his preferred place in the attacking midfield trio however Erik Hamren may well make the decision to play Toivonen as the long striker which he has done in the past at PSV and give Emir Bajrami a starting role in the attacking midfield role as the FC Twente has yet to feature in the tournament despite being billed as one of the potential starters. Hamren may also choose to be swayed by the popular desire of Swedish fans where the general consensus has been that Christian Wilhelm son should have started the match against England however with that now in the past it could well be that the Al-Hilal midfielder will get his first start of the tournament against France. With both England and Ukraine keeping more than half an eye on proceedings at the Olympic Stadium it will be interesting to see how Sweden will approach the match, with their nation pride having taken a knock particularly as a direct consequence of the defeat to Ukraine it is expected that Sweden will indeed fight till the bitter end to gain their first victory of the tournament at the expense of Laurent Blancs France side however it is interesting to look at the comments made by Swedens captain the talismanic Christian Wood Jersey whilst at times egotistical Zlatan Ibrahimovic this week I dont care who wins. Im going on a holiday This may well suggest that the Milan forwards mind is already elsewhere ahead of the final fixture of his tournament, although he followed these comments up by pledging his future to the Swedish national team stating he had no desire to retire from International football again anytime soon amidst rumours that he had become frustrated at the performances of other members of Hamrens squad. Sweden will no doubt be despondent following their premature mathematical exit from the tournament however they will be buoyed by their performance against England where against on paper significantly superior opponents Sweden gave a more than good account of themselves, the return of Anders Sven son to the anchoring role in the midfield alongside Kim Kallstrom took Sweden back to a line up with which they were more familiar and this undoubtedly increased the confidence amongst the side and improved the performance accordingly, Sven sons superior defensive ability to Rasmus Elm saw a more balanced Swedish side with Kira Lewis Jr. Jersey Elm allowed to have a more positive impact further up the pitch as he returned to his favoured position in the attacking midfield trio. As previously mentioned with Elm mi sing from the squad for the match against France it is expected Sven son will once again start as one of the anchoring midfield pairing and this will potentially allow Sweden to continue playing in the same manner in which they did against Roy Hodgsons England with confidence in their pa sing ability. Another that was evident on Friday evening was the improvement in mindset of Blackburn Left back Martin Ol son who after his under par display against Ukraine J.J. Redick Jersey made a significant step forward to returning to his domestic form which saw him claim a place in Erik Hamrens squad, his defending was improved albeit against the le s mobile James Milner in comparison to Andriy Yarmolenko however his willingne s to pre sure the attacker was much improved as was his confidence in going forward and supporting attacking moves although his only real attacking run of note came in injury time against England. This bodes well for Sweden going into the fixture with France especially with Mathieu Debuchy not having being truly tested as yet in the tournament. The return of Jonas Ol son also improved Swedens level of performance with the West Brom man slotting into the central defensive slot alongside Olof Mellberg with relative ease however Andreas Granqvist still appears to be the weak link of the Swedish defence with a lack of communication between him and Olof Mellberg being a contributing factor to Andy Carroll opening the scoring with a free header in Kyiv, it may well be the case that Erik Hamren chooses to drop Granqvist to the bench in favour of the more robust Mikael Lustig who despite mi sing most of the domestic season with Celtic through injury has shown a certain level of competent defending so far this summer, the injury picked up by Granqvist which saw him substitut