Cristián Gutiérrez

[Corazon]

13 minutes ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

So Guti is finally back in the starting lineup and he was played at LCB?!?

Did it look like a back 5 for most of the game?

Is Vanni killing his National Team chances by shuffling him around?

I watched a little bit of the game.  Not enough to comment on how he did but FWIW, I did see he was rated as one of the better players for Vancouver on both FotMob and SofaScore.  Hopefully he continues to get more minutes.

Edited April 11, 2022 by Corazon

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Corazon said:

I watched a little bit of the game.  Not enough to comment on how he did but FWIW, I did see he was rated as one of the better players for Vancouver on both FotMob and SofaScore.  Hopefully he continues to get more minutes.

He is good on the ball, composed, with good passing skills under pressure, so that is really good in working it out from deep. However, I don't see him as a hard nosed defender who will win 50-50s consistently (gets outmuscled or loses aerial challenges).  

[Northvansteve]

1 hour ago, BearcatSA said:

He is good on the ball, composed, with good passing skills under pressure, so that is really good in working it out from deep. However, I don't see him as a hard nosed defender who will win 50-50s consistently (gets outmuscled or loses aerial challenges).  

Really mixed game for Guti. The 0-2 goal for Portland started with Guti being beaten with a schoolboy move at midfield. Can't get sucked into a move like that as a CB. Then the 1-3 goal for Portland was Guti being outmuscled in the box. Again, not a play he can allow happen if this is a long-term positional move. Beyond that, he showed his usual form: steady, good forward passing, initiaties offense with his passing, great deadballs.

I do see the potential for him as an Alastair Johnston-type of central defender, playing on the left side of a 3-man defense. He will be able to play the ball out from the back better than most CDs. Will have to work on the defensive rough spots. 

 

[Watchmen]

4 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

So Guti is finally back in the starting lineup and he was played at LCB?!?

Did it look like a back 5 for most of the game?

Is Vanni killing his National Team chances by shuffling him around?

Think this is a bit of an overreaction. Wasn't good at LCB but don't expect to see him there again. His "shuffling around" is more to do with Vanni flipping his wingers back and forth during the game, which he needs to stop doing because it's not working. When Gutierrez is at LB or LWB he's been fine.

[BearcatSA]

1 hour ago, Northvansteve said:

I do see the potential for him as an Alastair Johnston-type of central defender, playing on the left side of a 3-man defense. He will be able to play the ball out from the back better than most CDs. Will have to work on the defensive rough spots. 

Johnston seems more aggressive in that role.  Gutierrez is more like former Cap Alain Rochat, kind of a finesse defender with good ball playing skills.

Edited April 11, 2022 by BearcatSA

[PiedPilko]

Guti isn't a CB. Full stop.

 

He should be bombing forward, which he's good at.

[Watchmen]

The good: An excellent cross for the tying goal tonight.

The bad: This is Gutierrez's man. He is not on the screen.

[Ivan]

This is why I think Guti has a snowball's chance in hell of boarding the plane for Qatar. Good with the ball at his feet, excellent crosser, but a matador defensively.

[Floortom]

He’s been kind of disappointing for me. He has excellent service but doesn’t do anything else well.

[GasPed]

6 hours ago, Floortom said:

He’s been kind of disappointing for me. He has excellent service but doesn’t do anything else well.

I'm not quite sure what to make of him.  Make no mistake, his long balls (including set pieces and crosses) are absolutely majestic.  I can't think of anyone on the Caps since Pedro Morales who can/could play long passes like that.  But the rest of his game is pretty bog average, and on defense, he is AWOL way too often.

If I had to project the best position for him, given his attributes, it would be LCB.  He's tall enough and mobile enough, but he'd have to bulk up, and more importantly, he'd have to learn to play defense.  Or maybe as a left-sided DM.  But frankly, I just don't think he's pacy/quick enough to put him on the outside at this level, and he's not a good enough dribbler either.  Having him 1 v 1 on the flanks vs a speedy opposing winger is not good.

At the same time, those mouth-watering long balls are enough to try to make a place for him somewhere...

[Watchmen]

23 minutes ago, GasPed said:

If I had to project the best position for him, given his attributes, it would be LCB. 

They tried him at LCB this season and it was pretty disastrous.  I think I'd keep trying him at LB, but they need to stop playing Nerwinski as an LCB and find better DMs to cover for Gutierrez when he does range forward. 

[GasPed]

7 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

They tried him at LCB this season and it was pretty disastrous.  I think I'd keep trying him at LB, but they need to stop playing Nerwinski as an LCB and find better DMs to cover for Gutierrez when he does range forward. 

Yeah, I know - he just does not play defense well.  But when he sprayed a couple of those long passes forward from the LCB position, a couple months ago (against Portland was it?), I thought maybe, just maybe we have something here.  Or maybe not...

[N1ckbr0wn]

11 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

They tried him at LCB this season and it was pretty disastrous.  I think I'd keep trying him at LB, but they need to stop playing Nerwinski as an LCB and find better DMs to cover for Gutierrez when he does range forward. 

Good news, a fully healthy Whitecaps doesn’t include Nerwinski starting in their back 3 (Godoy-Ranko-Blackmon), Cubas as their new DP DM will help, so will the return of injury prone Alexandre. Honestly things should be looking up for the caps soon here  (just need Guti to get out of Vannis dog house)

[Obinna]

I haven't paid enough attention to the defensive side of his game to comment, but going forward there's a lot to like about this guy. I am still a fan of his.

I think he's probably on the outside looking in for Qatar, but he's made several Canada rosters now, so obviously Herdman likes him. I would put his WC 2022 chances higher than "snowballs chance in hell" for that reason alone.

Again though, I'll have to pay closer attention to him defensively. I turned on the Whitecaps game after the goal was conceded.

[BearcatSA]

He reminds me of Mike Klukowski, more of  a finesse LB defensively.

Glad he played in that fine cross to White because his lack of chase back on that Dallas goal looked pretty (Adnan) bad.  At least Raposo has shown he can get some good giddy up with back tracking.

[SpecialK]

I think he needs more games and real structure. Vancouver hasn’t really played him at all this season and the whole team looks lost at times. He was really good last year 

[Atlantic]

 

[VinceA]

2 minutes ago, Atlantic said:

 

I remember how we were living and dying over his status when he was in Chile and breaking through at Colo Colo. He even had interest from Udinese at one point. Shame how far he's fallen. He even committed to us but hasn't gotten a game.

He falls into a wide net of dual-nationals who committed to us but then their careers went down instead of up.

Wonder what's next for him.

Edited August 5, 2022 by VinceA

[toontownman]

1 hour ago, VinceA said:

I remember how we were living and dying over his status when he was in Chile and breaking through at Colo Colo. He even had interest from Udinese at one point. Shame how far he's fallen. He even committed to us but hasn't gotten a game.

He falls into a wide net of dual-nationals who committed to us but then their careers went down instead of up.

Wonder what's next for him.

Moving to Nottingham Forest I heard....

[Northvansteve]

Too many injuries, and the Whitecaps have consistently played with 3 at the back and Guti is a pure left back so he hasn't had a clear role in this formation. He can't play in a 3-man centre back role (they tried) and he doesn't seem to play as well as a wingback (he's been passed by Raposo and Godinho). Hope he gets picked up by another MLS team - he's quality. 

[BearcatSA]

2 hours ago, Northvansteve said:

Too many injuries, and the Whitecaps have consistently played with 3 at the back and Guti is a pure left back so he hasn't had a clear role in this formation. He can't play in a 3-man centre back role (they tried) and he doesn't seem to play as well as a wingback (he's been passed by Raposo and Godinho). Hope he gets picked up by another MLS team - he's quality. 

For me, his big problem is durability.  His skills as a left wingback are not in question.  It's just that you can't help when you are on the trainer's table all the time (like the officially departed Godoy).

[Obinna]

That's too bad. I agree with others about him being injured too often. Hard to know what's next for him at this point. Maybe a return to South America? 

[K Edgar]

38 minutes ago, Obinna said:

That's too bad. I agree with others about him being injured too often. Hard to know what's next for him at this point. Maybe a return to South America? 

Join his twin brother at Valour?

[Dominic94]

17 hours ago, VinceA said:

I remember how we were living and dying over his status when he was in Chile and breaking through at Colo Colo. He even had interest from Udinese at one point. Shame how far he's fallen. He even committed to us but hasn't gotten a game.

He falls into a wide net of dual-nationals who committed to us but then their careers went down instead of up.

Wonder what's next for him.

To be honest he didn’t go downhill, he got injured and new manager came in. He was class last season and this move is honestly a mistake.

[Watchmen]

Didn't hear it during the broadcast, but apparently Vanni was asked about Gutierrez. His response is that he has no future with the team and he'll be training with WFC2 until he finds a new team.

Listening to the AFTN podcast, they don't think the club is without blame but also lay some of the problems on Gutierrez. Historically, I think they're more likely to normally side with players against the Whitecaps, so this really makes it sound like there's a maturity/attitude issue on his end. And it's not like Vanni has been hesitant to give younger players a chance.