By Tom Fordyce and Sarah Holt

Another medal for GB - but should there have been more than 11?

Should the British athletics team be happy with their efforts in the European Championships?

The GB squad won 11 medals in Gothenburg, one more than predicted by UK Athletics performance chief Dave Collins.

At the same time, only one gold medal was won, and that in the relay. Not a single individual won gold.

Britain's tally was also way down on previous years - just eight years ago, GB won nine golds at the Europeans.

So is it a time for satisfied celebration - or a wailing and gnashing of teeth?

On the bright side...

Sam Ellis, 24, won 800m bronze on his senior championship debut while 800m runner Becky Lyne and long jumper Greg Rutherford both blossomed at their second major championships.

GB GOLDS AT EURO CHAMPS Stuttgart 1986: 8 Split 1990: 9 Helsinki 1994: 6 Budapest 1998: 9 Munich 2002: 5 Gothenburg 2006: 1

Their success was a real tonic for Collins, who was impressed by the gritty attitude of the majority of his young picks - and relieved his strategy of blooding youngsters paid off.

He hopes their achievements will spur them and their peers on to step up in class at next year's World Championships and beyond.

Some juniors who could arguably have got on the rostrum in Sweden also flew out instead to the World Junior Championships, which begin in Beijing on Tuesday.

Absent stars include Martyn Rooney (400m), sprinters Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Alex Nelson, Amy Harris (long jump) and Emily Pidgeon (steeplechase).

On the down side...

A lack of professionalism meant rising 400m star Christine Ohuruogu was not in Sweden, fighting instead a ban after missing three out-of-competition drugs tests.

There were bouts of stage fright, too, from some youngsters which led to below-par performances.

All three promising male high jumpers failed to reach the final. Adam Scarr finished rock bottom after failing to get over his starting height of 2.15m - 10cm short of his personal best.

On the track, Richard Hill (800m) and Rikki Fifton (200m) seemed to struggle with the race tactics required at this level.

On the bright side...

Britain may not be coming back weighed down with medals but the squad does return with improved strength among the ranks.

In the heptathlon, Jessica Ennis and Louise Hazel both scored new personal bests.

Gothenburg also heralded a mini-renaissance for middle-distance running, with Ellis and Lyne's 800m bronzes the icing on the cake.

Neither Lyne nor Ellis has to go it alone in the event. Queuing up behind them are semi-finalists Jenny Meadows and Amanda Pritchard and male finalist Michael Rimmer.

On the down side...

The British squad remains something of a Swiss cheese - while some areas are solid, there are gaping holes elsewhere.

The championships exposed continued weakness in the field events, an area where European athletes are the best in the world.

Britain went unrepresented in the discus, the men's hammer and pole vault, and the women's high jump and shot.

There were no finalists in the women's long jump and hammer, men's shot and high jump.

On the track, Briton did not enter any walking events, the men's 10,000m or women's 200m, and went unrepresented in both steeplechases finals and the women's 100m hurdles.

The lowest point came on day five when there was not a single home-grown finalist competing in the late session for the first time since 1938.

On the bright side...

Britain should not be too disappointed with its relatively poor showing in some of the events in Gothenburg.

Eastern European nations have always dominated the field events, so the lack of medals in 2006 can be viewed as nothing more than continuation of a long historical trend.

In the events in which Britain has always been strong - the relays - they remained strong, and even gained previously lost ground in events like the men's 800m.

On the down side....

Britain has the best-funded team of athletes in Europe.

Despite that, the team finished 10th in the medal table, seven places below Belarus, which has a population of only 10 million and a fraction of the British budget.

Germany, which was supposed to be in an athletics slump, won three more golds than GB, as did France - even with more serious injury problems than Britain.

On the bright side...

UK Athletics performance director Dave Collins is convinced that the changes he has put in place are beginning to pay off.

He said: "I'm wholly satisfied that we've performed to spec.

"We know that we're weak, but the main thing is that we've got a plan and we're moving forward.

"It's nice for everyone involved in the programme because we've taken a panning over the last few days in the media."

On the down side....

Several of Collins' big ideas have come in for severe criticism.

Farah's silver in the 5,000m was a huge bonus for the GB team

Paula Radcliffe attacked his decision to appoint Linford Christie as a mentor to the British team.

And Collins' grading system, where he gave each athlete a public mark out of 10 for their performance in Gothenburg, drew the ire of luminaries like Jason Gardener and Steve Cram.

Cram said: "I genuinely think that was a big mistake. It is a silly process to go through.

"There is nothing subjective about athletics; it is all objective.

"You come first second or third, you jump 8.24 or 8.05. It is impossible to rate it by marks out of 10 - I think it has no value whatsoever.

"Collins also moved the goalposts after the first day - all the marks got covered up because of the criticism."

On the bright side...

The Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March provided a useful alternative to the World Indoors as a stepping-stone to the summer season.

Hurdlers Rhys Williams and Andy Turner both built on a successful Games in March to pick up a bronze apiece at the Europeans, while Ennis credited her new personal best and seventh-place finish to her Commonwealth bronze.

Look at it the other way round and Europeans offered a chance to make amends for a poor Commonwealth display.

The sprinters were humiliated by world-class Caribbean athletes in Melbourne but responded with 4x100m gold and Marlon Devonish's 200m bronze.

On the down side...

The constituent nations of the British European squad came back with 18 medals (six gold) from the Commonwealths, but only hurdler Turner was able to replicate his Melbourne bronze in Gothenburg.

The Commonwealths are the weakest major on the calendar in terms of world-class competition but that alone is no excuse for the European medal shortfall.

However, the demands of training and peaking for a major event twice in one season has taken its toll on Britain's athletes - and could explain why there were so few season's best in Sweden.

Decathlete Dean Macey admitted it took two months to recover physically from Melbourne and he played no part in Gothenburg after suffering an injury on the eve of the championships.