The England hotel stands as empty today as Kevin Keegan's dream of European glory. England's retreat from the Ardennes, expectations shattered by the superior technique of Romania, was swift and poignant.

Alan Shearer bid an emotional farewell to the international stage, while Keegan returned to his home in the North-East to contemplate the grim prospect now facing England's 2002 World Cup campaign.

That our players are not good enough to compete successfully at this exalted level is beyond dispute.

Shearer has done his bit for his country over the past eight years, but the hard part is only just beginning for the England coach and his Football Association employers.

The questions they must ask themselves are these: why are we not good enough and how do we rectify that situation?

This being the age of the sound bite and the phone-in, everyone has an opinion but, in the present circumstances, Keegan's carries more weight than most.

He believes that the three matches against Portugal, Germany and Romania revealed the full poverty of England's passing game.

This is hard to dispute and the reasons for this, Keegan claims, can be traced to the way the Premiership has developed in recent years.

'The Premiership breeds a different type of player,' he said. 'It requires different things from the players.

'In the Premiership today there are a lot of foreign players doing the inventive work week after week. That's the truth.'

They read like a who's who of world football - Ginola, Zola, Desailly, Petrescu, Di Canio, Bergkamp, Overmars, Kanu, Petit - and although you may claim that Manchester United have no foreign creative player, their resurgence as a European power was sparked by a certain Monsieur Cantona.

The influence of these foreigners on the domestic game has been massive and the fact that football has just signed a mega-deal with the TV companies suggests that even more money will be invested in luring the best of them to the Premiership.

It's hardly surprising then that, David Beckham apart, Keegan has no truly creative English-born midfielders to select.

The best creative players are with the richest clubs and they are all foreign. It's inevitable that their presence will inhibit the progress of young Englishmen.

Further evidence of the declining status of English players is provided by the numbers now playing abroad.

Steve McManaman, at Real Madrid, is the only member of Keegan's squad plying his trade abroad.

A few years ago the problem for England managers like Ron Greenwood and Bobby Robson was securing the release of English players at foreign clubs.

Keegan, Ray Wilkins, Trevor Francis, Tony Woodcock, Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle, Paul Gascoigne and Paul Ince all starred on the Continent.

You may argue that the wages in the Premiership keep them at home these days but the big Italian and Spanish clubs still pay more than the Premiership.

If the basic inability to pass the ball properly is the key element in England's downfall, the next question is how best to address the problem?

There is no easy solution. This is a long-term problem for Howard Wilkinson, the FA's technical director, and those responsible for the development of youth football.

In the meantime, as England prepare to face Germany again in the first World Cup qualifying tie at Wembley in October, Keegan has to devise a playing system that compensates for the inadequacies in his team.

I have always favoured the traditional 4-4-2 formation for England teams but recent evidence suggests that Keegan would now do better deploying his men in a 3-5-2 line-up.

This disguises, in part at least, the shortage of left-footed players and would provide an extra man in the troublesome midfield area.

But Keegan has shown a reluctance - or perhaps it's an inability - to react to changing circumstances during the 90 minutes of a game.

For this reason I believe he should add an acknowledged international strategist to his vast squad of coaches. He has numerous special-ist coaches but none with any significant experience of international football.

The ideal man for this post would be Don Howe, who worked under Ron Greenwood, Bobby Robson and Terry Venables and has held a number of different posts at Lancaster Gate.

Howe, now 64 and head of youth coaching at Arsenal, is a man who believes that tactics win and lose matches.

He would happily assist Keegan's big-match preparations and, most importantly, sit on the bench to advise during games.

Most of England's top managers and coaches, when converting their FA full badge to the European A licence, attended Howe's lectures at Lilleshall when he was on the Lancaster Gate staff. Part of Howe's course was devoted to the tactics and strategy of international football.

In this lecture Howe stressed the importance of controlling the mid-field areas in international football.

'If the opposition have control you'll chase the game all day,' he said when I once interviewed him about his lecture courses.

That perfectly sums up the reasons for England's tale of woe here in the Low Countries.

Keegan, of course, may not happily accept such an illustrious advisor, but I fear the consequences if he fails to see the light.

The task facing him is difficult. With Shearer gone and others going, he must rebuild his team and, at the same time, safely negotiate a World Cup qualifying programme. There is a need to introduce fresh blood and, assuming all were fit, Keegan could do worse than blend youth and experience in a 3-5-2 line-up.

Michael Hart's England team:

Seaman; Adams, Keown, Barry; Beckham, Lampard, Scholes, Gerrard, Harley; Owen, Fowler.