It's not so much his lack of pace ( he is a plodder though) its the defensive reading of the game which is the biggest problem. The number of times i have seen opposistion players run in behind him because he is ball watching is not good enough.
As for Hoddle he is the best player i have seen in a Spurs shirt and i go back to the early 60's, he is streets above Hudd and the comparison is a poor one.
Funny how two people can see the same thing so differently. I think his reading of the game makes up for his movement pretty well. I think he's generally quite adept at closing off passing angles and then closin the player.
Maybe you're thinking of when he was in a midfield 2 which will always struggle against a 3 (although the midfield 2 he was in was pretty effective).
As for the Hoddle comment, I wasn't comparing the players. It was more an example of the ridiculous English mentality that values fight and effort over intelligence and skill (see my various Parker comments).