Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White did something extremely cheeky last night as England under-21s slipped to defeat. The Young Lions lost 2-1 to Croatia at Craven Cottage, with Gareth Southgate watching from the stands.
Gibbs-White was actually a substitute for the friendly in West London. He came on with around an hour of the contest remaining and tucked away a penalty in the 87th minute, with Martin Baturina and Dion Drena Beljo scoring for Croatia.
Forest signed Gibbs-White from Wolves during the summer. He was identified as a primary target for Steve Cooper after Forest won promotion and the club paid a club-record transfer fee to secure his services in the summer.
The 23-year-old has been largely impressive during the current campaign. He could perhaps do with adding more goal contributions to his game in the Premier League but he’s clearly got the required talent to go to the top during his career.
Gibbs-White enjoyed a proud moment during Saturday’s game against France. He teed up Emile Smith Rowe to open the scoring but also captained the England under-21s for the first time.
It’s been a fruitful couple of games for the Forest playmaker. He added to his assist by scoring England’s consolation last night and it proved a cheeky goal, to say the least.
Forest star Gibbs-White did something cheeky in England under-21 defeat
The Forest man isn’t short of confidence. Last night he showcased that trait with his penalty-taking technique at Craven Cottage. He scored but it’s fair to say that his way of taking them scares supporters to within an inch of their life.
Last May, Gibbs-White suffered penalty agony. Brice Samba saves his spot-kick at the City Ground when he needed to score to keep alive Sheffield United’s hopes of reaching the Championship Play-Off Final.
Then, in January he took part in another penalty shootout. This time he scored but once again he used his rather unconvincing technique and just squeezed the ball past Jose Sa during a win in the Carabao Cup quarter-final against Wolves.
Last night, his antics went according to plan. He used the same cheeky hop, skip and jump but this time he sent the Croatian goalkeeper the wrong way and everything looked pretty nice.
It was a cheeky finish from a confident player and it remains to be seen whether Gibbs-White will be putting his name into the ring for more penalties in the future.
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