Nuno Espirito Santo was a happy man last night as Nottingham Forest beat Fulham 3-1 and after the game, he raved about one of his star performers on the night.
The Reds needed this victory after a run of five games without one. Callum Hudson-Odoi and Chris Wood scored inside the opening 20 minutes, with Morgan Gibbs-White adding a third in stoppage time at the end of the first half.
It was the first time since winning promotion that Forest have held a three-goal lead over anyone in a Premier League fixture. Tosin Adarabioyo did pull one back for Fulham just after half-time, but Forest stood firm.
After the game, there was one player who was the name on everyone’s lips. Espirito Santo was quizzed on one of his star players during the Forest win and he couldn’t speak highly enough of him.
The Nottingham Forest star who earned praise from Nuno Espirito Santo
Well, after last night, it would have been easy for the reporters to pick any player out for Espirito Santo to offer an appraisal. In fairness, at least seven players staked an honest claim to win the Man of the Match accolade against Fulham.
The man who did take the award home for the mantlepiece, however, was Gibbs-White. Once again he was outstanding and finished the night with a goal and an assist to add to his tally for the campaign.
Espirito Santo was seriously impressed with the player for his efforts as Forest claimed a valuable three points. He believes that he’s close to playing at his maximum potential right now.
The head coach told BBC Sport: “He’s very talented, no doubt about that. He’s reaching the levels of a footballer player that is almost complete. He reads the game well, he has talent, and he can score.
“The biggest challenge is to keep Morgan at that level and sustain this level of all the players. Many players did well behind him to allow him to attack.”
Morgan Gibbs-White is going all the way to the top
It’s hard to keep finding the superlatives for Gibbs-White on a weekly basis right now. He seems to get better or do something more ridiculously good every single game he plays in a Forest shirt.
At 24-years-old, Forest have a real star on their hands in Gibbs-White. He’s served the England under-21s with distinction and surely he will get a senior call-up at some point in the future.
Gibbs-White was once again top of the shop for Forest when it came to key passes last night, according to Who Scored. He completed four during his 76 minutes on the pitch and his assist for Hudson-Odoi was just sublime.
Espirito Santo resisted temptation to tweak Gibbs-White position
After dropping Gibbs-White into central midfield against Crystal Palace, many had been calling for him to start in that role against Fulham – however, Forest head coach Espirito Santo didn’t feel it was right to do so.
Instead, he let Gibbs-White cause havoc for Forest in his natural number 10 role. In the opening 45 minutes, he was unplayable and Sasa Lukic in midfield for Fulham couldn’t cope with him.
It’s a nice option to have Gibbs-White operating in the central midfield role. He works hard enough to play in that position but his creativity is better utilised as a number 10.
Espirito Santo showcased last night that he perhaps does prefer to have Gibbs-White in the 10 for Forest. However, it’s nice that he does now have the option to utilise him in central midfield too.
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