Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White is continuing to grow at the City Ground and now Nuno Espirito Santo has made an intriguing claim about the 24-year-old.
Forest landed Gibbs-White from Wolves in the summer of 2022 and immediately handed him the number 10 shirt. Stan Collymore, Garry Birtles and Bryan Roy have all previously worn the shirt and it can weigh heavy on some players.
However, it’s not fazed Gibbs-White in the slightest since he came to Forest. He’s been a quality signing for an initial £25 million and on Saturday he got himself another assist – this time for Chris Wood to score an equaliser.
Now, Espirito Santo has been quizzed on something which he did during the draw with Crystal Palace at the weekend. Forest face Fulham tonight and it will be interesting to see what happens with Gibbs-White.
Nuno Espirito Santo makes claim about Morgan Gibbs-White
At half-time of Saturday’s contest, Anthony Elanga was summonsed from the bench with Ibrahim Sangare making way. That meant a reshuffle and a new role for Gibbs-White.
The 24-year-old dropped into central midfield alongside Ryan Yates, allowing Elanga to play in a front four that featured Callum Hudson-Odoi, Divock Origi and Wood.
Now, he’s been asked about that decision. Forest have never seen Gibbs-White operate as a central midfielder before but it appears Espirito Santo is open to the idea in the future.
He told Nottinghamshire Live: “I think Morgan can play as a 10 and he can play as a midfielder, of course – if the game requires that, if the opponent is the right one. We will try to make the best decisions.”
Gibbs-White has scored nine goals and claimed 14 assists for Forest since arriving at the club. His assist for Wood on Saturday was his sixth of the season and hopefully there is more to come from the talented player.
Gibbs-White can fulfil a deeper-lying Forest role
As long as Gibbs-White is on the pitch, Forest will always have a chance. Some people might like to see him taken away from set pieces but in large, his other attributes are spot on.
In the past, Gibbs-White has been called ‘extraordinary’ by Andy Townsend. He was also praised by Garth Crooks after he helped Forest beat Arsenal to stay in the Premier League in May 2023.
Utilising Gibbs-White as a midfielder might be ideal in some fixtures. On Saturday, Who Scored showed that he still managed to make four key passes and had 92 touches of the ball.
Furthermore, he was fouled four times and only had three unsuccessful touches during the 90 minutes that he was on the pitch against Crystal Palace.
Getting Gibbs-White on the ball is key and if Forest do drop him into central midfield, he should be capable of getting on it more often.
Now, the conundrum for Espirito Santo is which games he chooses to tweak the position of Gibbs-White.
Forest certainly benefited from him being in a deeper role on Saturday and in our view, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to play him there from the off against Fulham tonight.
The post 'I think': Nuno suggests that he might well play Nottingham Forest star man out of position again appeared first on Nottingham Forest News.