Re: Guti Interview with Guti on Sky Sports' Revista de la Liga show: You don't have to be Guillem Balague to realise that Wanderlei Luxemburgo's exit from the Bernabeu has coincided with an upturn in fortunes at Real Madrid. Ailing at the start of the season and eating Barcelona's dust in La Liga, they are currently unbeaten in six games and coming into form at just the right time. The month of February brings two huge cup battles, against Chelsea in Europe and a Copa Del Rey semi-final that could see them up against Barcelona. Even the coach, Lopez Caro, has been praised for the quiet and confident way he has handled team affairs since his promotion in early December from assistant to coach. But one man who has been on top of his game all season is Guti, the belligerent blonde at the heart of the Madrid side. Since the beginning of the Galactico era Guti, or Jose Marie Gutiarrez to give him his full name, has always been on the fringes, out then in then out again, little more than a sacrificial lamb on the team-sheet. But, with the policy of 'Zidanes and Pavones' becoming a footnote in footballing history and a serious injury to Raul, Guti's undoubted quality has received another chance to shine. And it has. Playing in his preferred position behind a single striker, the 29-year-old, who has 12 caps for Spain, is currently one of the first names on Caro's team-sheet. He is even chipping in with the odd goal, not really his speciality, and if his good run of form continues he could even end up playing a key role for Spain in the World Cup. So how did it all turn around? He told Revista's Guillem Balague... GUILLEM: Are we seeing the best of Guti? GUTI: I don't know but I feel that everybody is looking up to me at the moment. Before, I wasn't playing that often but now I have the trust of the manager and things are working well for me. However, the most important thing is that the team goes on winning and I think that is the only thing we should be focussing on. You seem to be more comfortable with your game at the moment - you score, you give assists. Choose the bets moment, the best goal, and the best game of the season for Real Madrid. GUTI: Against Sevilla you will find all the answers. They are difficult and for me it was an important game because I scored. It was my first goal of the year in the Bernabeu and I gave a backheel pass to Zidane which came from confidence. It was a complete game on the part of everyone, a special moment for the team. I suppose you feel happy with your new position.... You have now played on the left, as a strike and as a defensive midfielder. Is Guti's best position where you are playing now, behind the striker? GUTI: Yes. I play with another offensive midfielder behind the single striker. Both of us have to score and come into the box from behind but we mostly have to pass the ball and use the mobility of our forward and wingers. It is a position where I have always played in the lower teams. At Real Madrid I haven't been able to play in a single position because when I was getting good at it, a great player came to take my place. I like this place on the pitch as you can see the best of me. We always used to play like this, with wingers, with midfielders who like playing the ball. We feel comfortable with this kind of football. In the 10 years in Madrid you have gone through everything. Are you seeing now the post-Galactico era? GUTI: Now we have come back to earth, going back to what football should be about. For far too long many things have been said that were untrue and many of us didn't get a mention. We were hurt by it. We were a great team but not super-human. Now we are seeing that although we have good players any team can beat you. We are fighting to make sure that doesn't happen too often. Generally a team is a mirror image of the manager. Is this the case now? GUTI: Yes, I think so. This team has got all the strength, all the fury and courage of our new manager. He wants the team top have all of those things, not just win the matches but, more importantly, in training. This is important to unite the squad and start winning things. Is the aim still to win La Liga? GUTI: Right now we are still in three competitions. In the Copa Del Rey and the Champions League we still have a good chance of winning. In La Liga, we are more than 10 points away, which will be very hard to make up. Barcelona are playing well, but we are hoping they slip up.
Re: Guti Lets review the bidding. Guti passes better than Baptista. Guti dribbles better than Baptista (Baptista's first touch has been very poor). Guti has scored more than Baptista this season. And Guti tackles better than Baptista (see last season where Guti made the NT based on playing DM for Garcia Remon). What does Baptista do better than Guti? Head the ball, perhaps? I like Baptista's attitude by the way, but even so. So can someone explain why Baptista should start over Guti?
Re: Guti Guti scored 14 goals in a season as support striker -and he didn't play all the games- and many of those were headers.
Re: Guti thank you dmar. Seriously, why are people so quick to dismiss Guti?? I know he was inconsistent but he's much better now. He can play so many different positions, one of the reasons he's survived at Madrid, since we always make him move around the pitch after buying our next Galactico. He's a great player, and a true madridista. He's better than Baptista in every category, including headers.
Re: Guti If it's a question of Guti v. Baptista, it is no contest as to who has to play (Guti, of course). Baptista should only be a substitute/emergency player based on what he has shown.
Re: Guti Spot on... yeh thats exactly the problem. Unfortunately people give too much attention to finances. "We paid 20M for Baptista so he must play". Im with you, this argument is nonsense. Who cares how much he cost? That money is gone now... its history. At the moment guti is in far better form than bapstista, so the choice shud be an easy one.
Re: Guti Quick question does anyones have know where i can find this picture of guti puma add...but bigger thanks
Re: Guti Interesting article from RealMadrid.com talking about how Guti should definitely be in the national team squad, based on statistics. http://www.realmadrid.com/articulo/rma30960.htm
Re: Guti Guti is the man... too bad he's not gonna be in the Spain squad... anyone who can play a number of positions adeptly deserves a spot for Spain. Definitley one of the most underappreciated players around.
Re: Guti He deserves it agead of the likes of Baraja. I was talking to a couple of friends of mine last weekend. They support Valencia and Sevilla and both thought that he had to go.
Re: Guti leaving a player like Guti out of Spain's starting XI is up to Aragones, but leaving him out of the squad is a crime. He is definitely better than alot of people that will be on the plane to Germany. Even when he's out of form he's still a good midfielder...when he's on form...he's easily one of the top 5 players in Spain.
Re: Guti Guti is quite a great player to watch when he is on form. Yes I too agree with sdotsom, guti can be left out of the starting XI for spain but he definitely should not be left out of the squad. He was one of our better players in the middle part of the season and Aragones should look at that.
Re: Guti Albelda, Xavi, Baraja, Iniesta, Cesc, Xabi Alonso, Senna, Oubiña, Gavilán and De la Peña. thats from the RM website anyway
Re: Guti I dont think Albelda, Baraja, Senna, Oubina can be his competition. Guti is not a DM, yes he can play there but he is not a nature DM. He is an AMC and should be played there, he will do very well as an attacking mid but not as a DM.
Re: Guti Maybe they dont want to risk, you know that "Guti is inconsistent" thing. To be honest, when he is in form he r0x, but he has those days where he totally disappears. Thats to much risk for World Cup p.s Did Beckenbaur say that Spain wont ever win a international competition these days?
Re: Guti And, this is one of the major mistakes of recent Madrid coaches... forcing players to play in positions that are unnatural and inappropriate for them. Did anyone notice how much Raul came back in today's game? Finally, Baptista has started playing in a more appropriate position. And, the last thing that I don't understand is what isn't Helguera being tried as a DM? I do think that he is talented enough to be in the starting XI... so, why not try to bring him back to his more appropriate position? If guti had been played more in a position to suit his tallents, he surely would be heading to Germany this summer. Shame on RM again for further examples of self-inflicted damage.
Re: Guti His list does not have Pernia ( among other things ) in it either?? gringotuno - I agree, if Guti was actually played where he should have been he would get selected more often but too bad we dont do that.