Nottingham Forest had a number of players jet off around the world to represent their countries on international duty last week.
When it comes to the players called up there were varying degrees of success with some players enjoying the fortnight more than others.
It was once again a fruitful period for Chris Wood. The Forest striker scored a hat-trick against Samoa and Wood was given a nickname by a New Zealand commentator.
Murillo drew praise from Morgan Gibbs-White after winning a Brazil call-up. However, he didn’t get on the pitch during games against Venezuela and Uruguay.
Gibbs-White himself was another player who enjoyed another England call-up and he made it onto the pitch in the game against Greece against Athens.
Forest star Gibbs-White did have to miss the trip to Arsenal, however, sparking discussion over whether he should have accepted the call-up.
What Garry Birtles said about Morgan Gibbs-White being called up for England
Gibbs-White received praise from the media for his assist after coming on against Greece and now he will wait to see if Thomas Tuchel names him in the squad when he makes his first call.
Birtles knows what it’s like to play for England. He collected three caps during his career and in reality he probably should have been given more.
However, he doesn’t believe that Gibbs-White should have accepted the call-up for England this time with his ankle clearly not right.
Birtles told the Forest Focus podcast: “He shouldn’t be called up if he’s got anything like a bit of an injury.
“If you’re being called up by your country you want to be completely fit so you can do yourself justice. When he’s got on as a sub for England he’s done particularly well and I don’t think he’s got much credit from the pundits but yeah it’s a strange one.
“If you’ve got any sort of niggle you should say, ‘No, I’m not right for this, I don’t want to make it worse.’
“You’re always desperate to play for your club but you don’t want to cock it up by going and playing when you’re half fit. You want to get back to 100 per cent fitness and get yourself back in the team. It was a little bit of a weird one.”
No player should ever reject England chance – Gibbs-White was right
We can’t side with Birtles here, sadly, although he does often hit the nail on the head.
Although Gibbs-White might not have been completely fit, he falls into the category of a player still desperately trying to prove himself on the international stage.
His outing for England came two weeks ago now and perhaps back then he wasn’t feeling the ankle quite as much as he was ahead of the weekend trip to Arsenal.
The £25 million signing Gibbs-White was right to remain with the England setup and in our view, no player should ever be rejecting the opportunity to represent their country.
Nuno Espirito Santo has hinted that the injury isn’t anything too sinister and the hope will be that he can return this weekend against Ipswich on home soil.
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