Adams can steady the England ship

Kevin Keegan has a week to decide who he wants to pick for England's opening match of the European Championship against Portugal and how he wants to play it. The who is likely to give him fewer headaches than the how.

The line-up is all but decided. So far as team selection is concerned the only pointer to emerge from Saturday's often shambolic exercise in Malta was the strength of Nick Barmby's case for filling the problematic position on the left.

Barmby's was the most consistent performance in a laborious 2-1 victory over a Malta side who celebrated the centenary of the island's Football Association by giving everyone a piece of the action. Josif Ilic, the Malta coach, used 11 substitutes and even Keegan brought on six. Some England players enhanced their importance for Euro 2000 by not appearing. Tony Adams, confined to the team hotel with a stomach upset, nevertheless reconfirmed how essential his form and fitness will be to the centre of a defence which looked flat and vulnerable without him.

Up front Michael Owen will not have felt threatened by the performances of Kevin Phillips, Robbie Fowler or Emile Heskey, although the latter's ability to move wide on the right and turn defenders, again gave the attack a fresh dimension. Tactically the most crucial decision Keegan has to make is whether to revert to the system of three at the back and five in midfield, or stick with the 4-4-2 formation employed in the 1-1 draw with Brazil and again in Malta.

None of which will be relevant if England's passing, perception and all-round concentration do not achieve a dramatic improvement over the next seven days. While no wise person would judge the team's prospects for Euro 2000 solely on the evidence of a social occasion designed, the shortcomings in Keegan's side were alarmingly consistent with those that had plagued England's narrow squeak in qualifying.

As Keegan himself said afterwards: "If we play like that in Euro 2000 we'll be home early. We missed a lot of chances and we need to work on the defence as a unit. Too often we were beaten by simple balls lobbed over the top although of course there is Tony Adams to come back. He's a key player for us."

Adams, however, is unlikely to go through the tournament without suffering some sort of ache or strain. Keegan's confidence in Martin Keown and Sol Campbell is unshaken although again on Saturday Campbell appeared to be suffering from a loss of form. At times the ease with which Carmel Bussutil, the stocky 36-year-old Malta captain, lured the Tottenham defender into tackles then turned inside him with the ball was embarrassing. And the penalty given away by Richard Wright, England's third-choice goalkeeper, which enabled the Maltese to draw level six minutes after Keown had headed in a free-kick from David Beckham, followed one of several instances in which Malta exploited space to the left of goal covered by neither Campbell nor Phil Neville.

Both went missing as Noel Turner found David Carabott, who was then fouled by Wright. Carabott sent the goalkeeper the wrong way with a penalty which then had to be re-taken because of Maltese encroachment. This time the ball hit a post and rebounded into the net off Wright's head. Wright made amends, this time saving another penalty from Carabott in the 88th minute to deny Malta a 2-2 draw. In stoppage time, moreover, Wright saved feet first to thwart Nenad Veselji, the man he had brought down for the second penalty. There is nothing wrong with Barmby was the one bright spot in an otherwise grey England performance. "He played very well," said Keegan. "He's a talented footballer with a good football brain."