HE DRINKS too much, he was recently pictured smoking, his private life has addressed more personal issues than a year's output of Eastenders, he is injury prone, his pace has largely gone and his waning stamina has taken the two out of one twos.

Yet Paul Gascoigne is not only still playing for England but Glenn Hoddle actually goes out of his way to pick the 90s version of George Best, as Terry Venables did before.

One can easily understand such a devotion to genius from Bobby Rob son when Gazza was at the height of his extraordinary powers. But would Frank Williams enter a seven year old car in this year's world championship?

No. So it is a worrying comment on the state of the British game that Gazza at half throttle is still the most creative midfielder England have - the only one who can turn a game with a flash of inspiration, a touch, a pass, a dribble. Or so Hoddle hopes against Poland today.

It is an increasingly long odds gamble, but clearly the coach has looked at his creative midfield options and decided that, for now, if Gazza is fit he gets the starring role.

Chris Waddle is confident his former Newcastle and England teammate can still make the difference. "Gazza stands alone as the one England player capable of producing when a high stakes stablemate cries out for something different," he says.

But one day it will be over, then the fat boy can sing no more. So what then? David Beckham covets a central midfield role but even though he and the likes of Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp show refreshing promise, they have been nowhere near as dynamically influential for England as the Gascoigne who, at a similar age, singlehandedly took Czechoslovakia apart at Wembley in April 1990 to force his way into the World Cup finals squad.

"The number of creative midfielders has decreased there is no doubt," says Hoddle bf the art he once graced. "It is the same in other countries too. The game is getting too fast for them. Over the last 15 years it's got quicker and more athletic, and evolved that individuals are not the main thing but the team.

"It saddens me, but tennis has evolved through a bigger serve, golf by people hitting the ball further. And that's the way football has gone. Even the Brazilians realised they needed two solid players in midfield to win the World Cup."

Soccer's tactical academic David Pleat has his own distinctive thoughts on the problem. "We can't afford to carry the type of player that might have weaknesses in terms of team determination and restructuring of team shape when possession is lost," says the Sheffield Wednesday manager.

"The prerequisite in the Premiership is that every player has to work bloody hard and in this country we still go for the strong, hard midfielder.

"The type of players who take a rest occasionally and do their clever work on the ball have to be exceptional to gain a regular team place, otherwise they don't get a look in.

"Some have come here from abroad who are that little bit cleverer and get away with the fact that they don't work quite so much. Ginola got away with it over two years at Newcastle. When possession was lost he was a liability.

"But you've got to be strong in the middle of the park and work as a team and managers are nervous and scared to go along with the one that pauses on the ball and does a little bit. So those sort of players have not been encouraged."

One of the most sublime practitioners of the inventive art has also noticed a change. Liam Brady is now in charge of the youth set up at Arsenal and agrees that the principal reason for the dearth of midfielders is because "a lot of top football is dependent on winning the physical battle in a game.

"To have one playmaker alone; the team is totally reliant on that player. And I think that's why clubs have drifted away from it. Playing the way they do now is seen as safer.

To cope with the change a new type of midfielder has evolved. "They are now better equipped all round. They are not exceptional at one thing but very good at a lot of things, like Desailly and our own Vieira."

However, he admits that "Arsenal are probably looking for a more creative type to complement the other players we have in midfield" and in the long term sees a trend back towards individuality."