Totally Extra: Zinedine Zidane - is he all that?

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

The Athletic FC.

James Richardson (0:09)

Totally Extra, today, Zinedine Zidane. The best control since Joy Division, the most infamous but since Sir Mix-a-Lot, from his beginnings in Marseille, to the glory of his goal in Glasgow, to his blowout in Berlin. We salute Zizou and ask, he's an icon, but was he actually all that good? Totally Extra and Zizou.

Friday, the 25th of September, we got a brand new Totally Extra for you featuring, hey Tom Williams. Hello James Richardson. Hey Julien Laurens.

Julien Laurens (0:53)

Bonjour.

James Richardson (0:54)

Bonjour.

And hello from Amsterdam, Michael Cox. Hi James. Hi. Nice to see you all.

This is the day that Zinedine Zidane debuts as France manager and we've gathered together for a very, very special look at the icon, perhaps the legend, the man who, as one listener asked, was he all that? Yeah. Big question for us.

Here's another listener. Chetil de Verne says, yes, Cox is in the lineup. Don't gloss over Zinedine's bad and anonymous seasons. The most overrated player of all time.

SPEAKER_6 (1:36)

Wow.

Tom Williams (1:37)

That's a big shout.

Tom Williams (1:38)

Did Michael write this tweet himself?

SPEAKER_6 (1:41)

Like a burner account.

James Richardson (1:44)

It's true, Michael. You found yourself at the head of a church of Zidane truthers. You're like the Greta Thunberg of Zidane non-believers.

Michael Cox (1:54)

Yeah, I'll take that. Can I say some nice things about him at the start? Yeah.

I mean, he was amazingly talented. No question about that. There was a period where he was the best player in the world around Euro 2000 International career, I think pretty stellar, showed up in Euros and World Cups.

The goal he scored in the 2002 Champions League Finals. As good a goal as you'll see. I think the issue for Zidane was just, did he play consistently well over the course of a season? And I think by and large, he didn't. So that is my issue with Zidane. I don't doubt that he looks great in a YouTube compilation of 10 minutes. He looks like the best player ever. But I think of all the players who are regarded as greats, he probably, if you were to rank every Zidane performance out of 10, which would obviously take you quite a long time, I expect it would be lower than for any other of the great players in history. That's my view on Zidane from the top.

James Richardson (2:49)

Surely, that's got to be your next piece. I watched every Zinedine Zidane performance and rated it out of 10

SPEAKER_6 (2:57)

It's the only way we'll know.

James Richardson (2:58)

Yeah.

Julien Laurens (2:59)

They do the average and then we'll know. The average was 5.6 or something.

James Richardson (3:04)

Jules, as a Frenchman, is there an intangible quality about Zizou, what he represents, that goes beyond what, say, non-French people might understand? What's your take?

Julien Laurens (3:14)

Yeah, I think so. But I also agree with Cox in the consistency of his own career. You know, some games in the Champions League bar that finally know too.

Some of the red cards, I think 14 red cards for any players is far too many. But for number 10, probably even more. So there's clearly a lot of things that were not that great about him in his playing career. But I still think that in terms of technical ability and pure technical ability, and again, Adel Tarabt had pure technical ability and Atem Banafa as well. I'm not saying that this is just the end all of, you know, be all and end all or whatever you say. But I still think that it was pretty incredible on that level. And yeah, I think a lot of the current players who idolise him so much, including his own players right now with France, also grew up watching those highlight reels that Michael mentioned of 10 Minutes where you see all the technical brilliance or genius even that he had. And yeah, if you just watch that, it's pretty impressive really. But on what he also brought, what he meant to us outside of even the performances that he could have had, or the World Cup or the Euros and things like that, it's the whole story of immigrant parents coming to France and him growing up in this super tough council estate in Marseille and just making it to the top and being the most popular French figure, not just in sports, but in any kind of celebrities really. And that is very special. And that's why I think we look at him also with different eyes.

James Richardson (4:49)

Speaking of eyes, I think one of the things about Zidane is that a bit like, I mean for me, Banjo, there was always a slightly mystic kind of otherness to his eyes.