Alan Shearer was sitting in the front room of a mate's house in the middle of Huddersfield. He was sitting waiting for a Bryan Adam's concert at the nearby McAlpine Stadium to begin.

Outside, boys were playing football in the street. It was an everyday scene. Then Kevin Keegan bounded in. By the time the two men left about an hour later Shearer was well down the line to becoming Newcastle United's next centre forward, the famous black and white number nine.

Well down the line, but not all the way there. The world record transfer fee of £15 million first had to be negotiated with Jack Walker at Blackburn. Then Newcastle had to find the cash. Doing so drove them to drink, the Scottish and Newcastle brewery across the road from St James' Park to be precise. The makers of Newcastle Brown Ale had helped fund the purchase and wages of Keegan a decade earlier. Now they came to his aid again.

There was one other local difficulty, however. Keegan's plan at Newcastle, as told to Shearer, was predictably adventurous. "He told me he wanted to play me, Les Ferdinand, Faustino Asprilla, Peter Beardsley and David Ginola in the same attack," Shearer recalls in his autobiography. "Very interesting, I thought."

A big "but" seemed certain to follow at this point in the story. It didn't, but this did: "I went to the concert with my mind working overtime. There were many unanswered questions, mainly about Kevin's tactics." Despite his teacher's pet status, Shearer should not feel guilty about his revelation. He was just the latest to worry about Keegan's tactical acumen.

Newcastle played with such freedom Sepp Blatter sent Keegan a herogram about Newcastle's style, but there were doubts about what was going on defensively - Darren Peacock. At Newcastle, though, Keegan was responsible only for everybody's favourite second team. Now is different. Keegan is responsible for everyone in England's favourite fantasy.

Winning a tournament, and winning it well. A nation expects, but an expectant nation is one hell of a monkey on the back. It feels, and Keegan must sense it as well, like everyone in England is suddenly obsessed with formations. To be 4-4-2 or 3-52, that is the question for Keegan's England.

It is hardly rocket science, yet Keegan appears to be bemused by the relative complexity of it all. It also feels as if he has found the pressure to be viewed as some sort of international manager tactic-guru hard to resist.

This man who abolished the reserve team at Newcastle and thought he could win league championships with five forwards made an interesting admission after the Brazil friendly at Wembley three weeks ago. According to Keegan the reason Paul Scholes had not once got beyond Shearer or Michael Owen was due to the fact that Keegan had instructed England's most prolific midfielder to "not bomb forward like he usually does".

Keegan omitted to mention that one of the explanations why Scholes scored the goals he did against Poland and Scotland was because of Keegan's Bill Shankly encouragement to "go out there and drop grenades". England drew 1-1 with Brazil, so to an extent Keegan's caution was justified. It is just that caution is against Keegan's natural instinct.

One man who knows Keegan's managerial instincts well is Mark Lawrenson, whom Keegan employed at Newcastle as defensive coach. "Kevin was very much aware of the importance of going forward," said Lawrenson, "and he always felt he had adequate people to cope when Newcastle lost the ball.

"Of course he was also aware that he needed to get defenders in, though even in my time at Newcastle he would say: `Let's not worry about that for now, let's worry about getting the ball and going forward'. You couldn't say he neglected the defensive side but he left most of that to Derek Fazackerley." Fazackerley, the former Blackburn Rovers centre half, now has that responsibility with England. He may have a more attentive boss than before.

But, as Lawrenson said, Keegan's dilemma with England is that: "Basically they are trying to mask the problem of having no left-sided players and they just don't have the personnel to play 3-5-2. "If you play David Beckham wide on the right in that formation you are not going to get your best out of him. That was seen against Scotland." However relevant the poor form of the Neville brothers, they are likely to be full backs in a flat back four against Portugal in Eindhoven tonight.

Who plays in front of Philip Neville is again the question without an obvious answer. It is becoming an obsession for the England manager. At first Keegan addressed England's Achilles heel imaginatively - if surprisingly - by calling on Leicester City's Steve Guppy and Coventry City's Steve Froggatt. Michael Gray of Sunderland was another Keegan tried out. None convinced.

Keegan chose Gray for the disheartening 1-1 draw in Bulgaria in the qualifying campaign last June. It was Keegan's third competitive match in charge since succeeding Glenn Hoddle.

The euphoria that flowed after Scholes' hat-trick in the win over Poland three months earlier had started to evaporate, a process hastened by a 0-0 draw at Wembley with Sweden.

The pattern of inconsistency has stuck. Beat Scotland away one day, lose at home four days later. Beat the Ukraine on a Wednesday, face embarrassment in Malta on the Saturday.

And yet, partly because of the engaging company Keegan can be, partly because of his honesty and partly because of the number of England players lining up to sing their manager's praises - as a man - especially when compared to the previous incumbent, Keegan has received remarkably patient treatment from the normally unforgiving tabloid press. That could all change tonight.

An incoherent performance as much as a disappointing result would leave Keegan exposed. Lawrenson though, said Keegan would just bounce back. "He is not one to dwell on failure. He'd immediately start talking about the Germany game being the biggest in England's history."

Before any of that comes the Eindhoven teamsheet. McManaman or Wise? What about Barmby? "Yeah, it's important we don't lose the first game," said Shearer, "but everybody knows Kevin Keegan teams go out for victories". Or a draw.

Tony Adams was rather more revealing a couple of weeks ago when discussing Keegan's tactical understanding, particularly at international level. "When it comes to knowledge, I think there are enough of us able to share it with him," said Adams.

It was praise so faint it was invisible. The newly-thoughtful Adams then added, perhaps by way of compensation for the other remark: "He's got a lucky face."

Kevin Keegan might just need it to smile.