Another arse, but he does know his football. Has worries about Shearer, but I like the praise as well. Shooting with 'violent power;'

ALAN SHEARER'S injury will have to be fairly serious to keep him out of Kevin Keegan's team to meet Portugal in Eindhoven tomorrow. It is not just Shearer's proven determination or Keegan's obvious faith in him that makes me feel the England captain will be trusted to overcome anything short of a major problem with his left knee. The most important fact is that what he brings to the team these days is not the kind of contribution that will be severely diminished by minor physical impairment.

Over recent seasons, Shearer's mobility has been conspicuously reduced, so much so that I must include myself among those who wonder whether he is still equipped to be a consistently effective centre-forward in international football. But I fully recognise the qualities which convince Keegan and many others that there is no better man to lead the national team. Shearer's competitive resolve and his muscular challenges in the box can disrupt defences and, above all, he is an impressive taker of chances. His ratio of strikes on target to opportunities received continues to be thoroughly exceptional. And, since he is excellent in the air and shoots with violent power, the return on any openings created for him is liable to be good. The troubling question is whether the lack of fluidity and variation in England's attacks caused by his loss of mobility will limit the number of chances that come along.

That danger would certainly worry me, but the manager whose decision counts at Euro 2000 clearly sees Shearer's remaining strengths as far outweighing the eroding effects of all the bad injuries he has fought his way through. Having hung his hat on that conviction, Kevin will be confident that niggling discomfort in a knee will not prevent his captain from delivering the combative, aggressively focused performance he has been picked to provide. If the damage is drastic enough to rule him out, we can look for Michael Owen, who would surely have partnered Shearer, to be paired with his Liverpool teammate Emile Heskey to form the strike force.

Sadly, Robbie Fowler has played so little since coming back from injury that his prospects of being in the starting line-up must be slight. A fit and sharp Fowler would be a boon to any manager. He is a high-class forward, the most natural finisher in the British game, and I hope he hones his edge sufficiently in the next two or three weeks to be significantly involved in the tournament.

MUCH will be expected of Owen. That is inevitable after the impact he made at the 1998 World Cup finals, but there is an urgent need for people to remember that the lad will not be 21 until December. I believe - and more importantly so does his boss at Anfield, Gerard Houllier - that Michael has suffered as a result of the relentless schedule of demanding matches he has faced since breaking into the Liverpool first team. Apart from making him more susceptible to the injuries that have plagued him lately, that over-exposure during the past three years or so has probably hindered the development of his talents. Hailing him as a bit of a prodigy at France '98 was fair enough, but to imagine, as many apparently did, that he had arrived on the scene as the finished article was simply foolish.

Young footballers should be given time to practise, so that they can improve their skills, and they often benefit from occasional spells in the less taxing environment of the reserves. No such luxury has been available to Owen and the disadvantages of his hectic programme aren't hard to discern. Of course, if he recovers the vigorous freshness and exuberant form he showed against Argentina two years ago, nobody in the England camp will be complaining. His principal assets are raw speed and the self-assurance to exploit it, but it is also a big plus that his running off the ball is unusually thoughtful for one so young. He times his runs in behind defenders intelligently, to avoid being caught offside, a trait that can be irritatingly missing from the efforts of more experienced attackers.

Heskey's methods of penetration are very different. He, too, has the pace to go past opponents, but frequently he relies on brawn to shake them off. Goalscoring is definitely a problem for him but he can create uneasiness that yields profit for teammates. With his physicality, he is always a handful and when he gets turned on defenders he has the willingness to run at them. Another basic reason why Kevin, if deprived of Shearer, may choose Heskey rather than the alternatives is that his own defenders would be helped by having a target man like big Emile to hit when they have to play the ball long from the back.

It seems pretty safe to assume that England will start with the 4-4-2 formation that is the norm for most of the players at their clubs. Kevin has shown an interest in operating with three at the back and, against some opponents, I'm sure he would welcome the flexibility of being able to switch to that. But adapting to the unfamiliar could prove risky amid the pressures of the championship. I was intrigued to hear from Berti Vogts recently about the problems at club level in Germany over moving defences in the opposite direction.

For generations, German footballers have given the rest of the game a master-class in how to operate the three-at-the-back formation but of late a number of the country's leading clubs have been attracted by 4-4-2. However, Berti tells me that they are having the utmost difficulty in educating their young players to cope with a system that hasn't been traditional in their country. None of that will be relevant to how Germany play against England in Charleroi on Saturday - the defence, especially if marshalled by Lothar Matthdus, will stick to tried and trusted ways - but it does emphasise the strong grip that the familiar has on footballers' minds. Getting them to adapt to a new approach is never an overnight process.

The personnel for at least three of the positions in England's back four should be predictable. In spite of doubts expressed in various quarters about both of the Neville brothers, I think Keegan will opt for them as his full-backs. Gary's miseries with Manchester United in Brazil last January have blinded a lot of people to the general pattern of his form. The truth is he has had a good season for me. I admit I am inclined to be loyal to such a model professional, but loyalty only goes so far. Ultimately, performance decides everything. Gary has performed.

As far as Phil is concerned, the fact that the right is patently his stronger foot invites discussion about whether he is the best choice for left-back, but there isn't exactly a crowd of outstanding left-footed candidates vying for his place. Talk of drafting in 19-year-old Gareth Barry of Aston Villa is rash. He has served Villa mainly as a left-side centre-back, and the notion that switching him to full-back would provide England with surging runs and a feast of left-footed crosses ignores the reality that the boy's pace is unexceptional. Phil Neville's superior experience, his quickness and his familiarity with the position justify his retention.

Tony Adams, a seasoned expert at his job and a born winner, is guaranteed the key role in the middle of the back four, and Martin Keown and Sol Campbell are the main contenders for the other position. I thought Keown, as Adams's regular ally at Arsenal, would have an edge when it came to selection, but reports from Belgium hint that the manager may be favouring Campbell. Though the Tottenham man's positional play is sometimes imperfect, his athleticism and ease on the ball give his game more scope than Keown's, and he is a player capable of being uplifted by the big occasion. The World Cup in France confirmed that. I wouldn't blame Kevin for taking a chance with Campbell.

ONE gamble I would fancy is that of playing young Steven Gerrard as the anchorman midfielder in front of the back four. That position may appear to be the property of Paul Ince, but I am not sure that should be the case. Paul has tremendous attributes, notably his contagious self-belief, his ball-winning aggression and the battle-hardened attitude produced by many years of international football. But his legs aren't what they were. If he contents himself with functioning as a defensive midfielder, he is still valuable but his eagerness to set off on foraging runs can leave him stranded, with those ageing legs struggling to carry him back to where he should be.

Gerrard is only 20, but he is physically and technically precocious. He has a good engine and displays remarkable energy on the pitch. He already reads the game quite well, can pass and is quick. He would be helped by the experience of those behind him and I feel Steven could be one of the positive surprises of the tournament.

Elsewhere in the team, there is plainly no necessity to elaborate on the importance of David Beckham and Paul Scholes. David's capacity to supply width on the right and to deliver the world's best crosses, and Paul's worth as a midfield creator and a scorer of goals, should make their inclusion as automatic as that of Tony Adams. I also think, incidentally, David Seaman should remain England's goalkeeper. Nigel Martyn has had a fine season but, whatever the critics say about evidence of decline, I don't accept that the longserving Seaman has done anything to warrant replacement. He has the temperament and the presence to reassure those in front of him in the tests ahead.

The search for somebody to handle the problem position on the left side of midfield may well be at an end. Given that there is no totally satisfactory solution available, I am a wholehearted advocate of Steve McManaman as the player who offers the best possibility of filling the gap convincingly. In playing such a crucial part in Real Madrid's victory in the European Cup final, McManaman demonstrated that the virtues he has always possessed are maturing towards a new level of productivity. He has unbelievable stamina and the constant appetite for the ball that I regard as a vital kind of courage, and he can beat a man.

With that ability to penetrate with the ball, he can do more than Dennis Wise to offset the lopsidedness that afflicts England at present. Nick Barmby is a gifted footballer who has made a late charge into the reckoning, but my preference is definitely for McManaman.

Whatever the composition of the England team, I shall be hoping fervently that they make triumphant progress. I have nothing but the warmest feelings towards Kevin Keegan, whose dealings with club managers since taking over England have maintained an extraordinary standard of courtesy and reasonableness. He is as easy to work with as Terry Venables was, and that is high praise.

Tomorrow's match with Portugal will, as I stressed last week, be a serious assignment for England. But, like nearly everybody else, I find my thoughts drifting forward to Saturday's collision with Germany. Despite their defeat of the Czech Republic in last weekend's friendly, they cannot be granted the place among the favourites for the continental championship that they usually have as a matter of right. They are, however, masters at organising their challenge in such a competition, at extracting the maximum from their resources, and they will paper over their weaknesses so skilfully that opponents will often be misled.

Playing the Germans can be as inhibiting as walking into a really posh restaurant. They can make you quieter than normal, over-worried about how you are conducting yourself, less relaxed in expressing yourself than you should be. But I suspect the current team will be found out, exposed, when they meet good opposition. England have no reason to fear them.

Germany's deployment of Carsten Jancker and Oliver Bierhoff as their strikers indicates that they mean to soak up pressure and hit plenty of long balls to those big front men. The English centre-backs should be able to cope with the physical confrontation. In fact, England had better be ready to battle all over the field. The Germans will not be short of muscle. I don't expect them to be particularly fluent or adventurous. They will challenge opponents to come and beat them. Saturday's game might easily finish as a low-scoring, or even goalless, draw. I'll be happy to see anybody score, so long as he is an Englishman.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Answers

Damnation with the faintest of praises, I think.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000