Paul Gascoigne vs France | Classy Gazza | 1997 Tournoi de France | All Touches & Actions

[@TheIkaraCult]

Thuram and Deschamps trying to cripple him... tells you all you need to know

[@icowar]

England's best player since Bobby Charlton

[@greengrass811]

Looking at this match I can see why hoddle didn't bring him to the world Cup. Too often in this match gazza dosent see the passing lanes or he meses up the easy pass. I don't think it is match fitness or playing in the Scottish league but he looks a shadow of the player that he was in his prime Even at his best though his passing wasn't elite. He didn't have the weight of pass or range of hoddle or Scholes.

[@danyoutube7491]

I think he was being conservative here, not playing through balls a lot of the time (the most obvious examples are right at the end of the game, when the commentators note that England are, and should be, purely keeping possession), because everyone else on the field was. It was clearly a rather cagey, dare I say boring match. Whistling from the French crowd almost throughout, and it is clear from the passes by other players in this highlight video that everyone was reluctant to risk losing possession, and that keeping the ball seemed to be more important than actually creating a chance. There was no urgency. As far as I'm aware Gazza's fall from favour for going to France '98 came rather late, because he had let himself go after his good performances and gained weight. I've just checked the dates, and this match was about five months before the away game in Italy in which he played well. I don't think Gazza was in Hoddle's bad books based on this performance.

[@cousinleigh1470]

He was plsyn against the next world champions and beat them as well… am not sayn he was as good a player but could of still done a job

[@terencephilips1162]

I think that's harsh saying he isn't seeing the lanes. Need to remember that this France team was arguably the hardest international team to play through of all time - incredibly physically imposing central spine and the lanes simply werent there. Gazza simply looks shot in comparison to the french midfielders. He still had the touch to make an impact in the game however, and certainly would have caused problems against lesser opponents. That said this was a year before the world cup and Gazza regressed significantly more between this game and 98

[@shaunewilliam1831]

six minutes 19 secomds, I'm sorry pal but doesn't see the passing lanes, Glenn and Scholes didn't have that in them. That is simply perfection, plus you're overlooking somebody who can change the game in a spit second at any time and unlike the two you mention who i hold as our best alongside Gazza, this man could do what they couldn't he can actually dribble and turn, at elite level meaning he can change create his own passing angles unlike you're other two who rely on what you said, lanes in short Gazas options are infinite, compared to Glenn and Scholsey, as he canchange the angle of play, in a full 360 degrees. All those players are the best examples of international class midfielders we have if we remove the destroyers, but Gazza had most of what they had, yet he also had a lot more than those two. The ideal would have been to have both Scholes and Gazza as we did for Brazil here, where we lost to a Romario ttoe-poke but played very well. Put a Batty or other destroyer behind them to protect them, and we've got something as good as if not better than Xavi and Iniesta. Hoddles tactics and style of play were brilliant, it was recognised by Rinus Michels in his book, however I'll never forgive Hoddle for what he did leaving him out at La Manga Argenttina bossed us with Ortega in the second round knock out, and had we have had Gazza they would have been on the receiving end of such humiliations too, and such a pass as that six minutes 19 second pass, there , in the second half of that game when we're defending for our lives due to Beckhams dismissal, would have been gobbled up by Owen,with his speed and bravery, Gazza regulalry broke two lines with one pass.He didn't even need to be fit if he's protected.

[@sundijohnson2486]

Still the best player on the field though😊