It is an attitude every manager would love their players to share, but it does not always work like that when egos and ambition pollute a dressing room. Guthrie, though, is mature beyond his years, a good football education at Liverpool and first-team experience at Bolton Wanderers followed by the thrill of a move to Newcastle and the relegation trauma which followed. He added: “I am a far more mature player than I was when I came to Newcastle. “You benefit from every experience, good and bad. I have just grown up a lot over the last couple of years. “I have had two seasons now of regular first-team football and I am a better player for that. “I have never really been one for the wild life off the pitch. “There is not anything about my lifestyle which is too crazy, but on the pitch I have developed and matured. I am 22 and I am starting to grow up and develop. “There is a side to my game I did not have when I came here and that is because of the experience I have gained. “Liverpool gave me a great foundation. It is a great club. “They show you the right way to play football, you are given a platform, but I have only really developed at Newcastle because I am playing first-team football. “I have a different mentality now, you cannot learn that as a kid. You are always told about a stage in your career where you start to mature and I think I have just reached that stage.” It would be harsh if Guthrie does lose his place in the starting line-up at Pride Park tonight. He has more assists than any player at Newcastle this season and thrived on Friday night in a team performance full of slick passing and movement. He added: “I think a more open style does suit my style of play, but we are still learning about this league and what it takes to win games. “Everyone wants to play the nice football and that suits me, but some games it is about grinding a win out. “Some games are just a battle in this league and I think that is something we have adapted to really well. “I think a lot of people thought we would struggle to cope with that side of it because we have been known as a good footballing side. “Cardiff came here and tried to play football and sometimes that helps us. In those sorts of games we can go and do that to teams, but it is not going to be like that every week.” | 
Article
