Nottingham Forest were trounced three-nil by West Ham United as the pressure was piled on Nuno Espirito Santo.
The Forest head coach watched on as his team conceded three times in seven minutes after being largely frustrating throughout the contest.
Forest had a number of players below par against the Hammers, who came to prove a point to their suffering supporters and put on a show for the first time this season.
Espirito Santo has had a dust-up with Edu, it would seem, and since that public outburst, Forest have drawn against Crystal Palace and been thrashed by West Ham.
One man simply wasn’t at the races today and with Arsenal away to come after the international break, it could be the perfect time to take him out of the team.
Nuno Espirito Santo has to drop Morgan Gibbs-White
This might sound crazy to consider dropping the man who is currently considered the captain, but right now, there is no excuse.
Gibbs-White was awful against West Ham, and pretty much everything he tried failed, and ultimately, there is nowhere for Espirito Santo to turn from here.
The 25-year-old completed 80% of his passes, but the tricks and flicks were unnecessary and stifled Forest more often than not against the Hammers.
Gibbs-White shockingly lost the ball 23 times against West Ham, and it frankly defied logic that he managed to stay on the pitch for the full 90 minutes plus nine minutes of stoppage time.
Sofa Score showcased these stats that showed he was miles off his top form and with a plethora of players to call upon, Gibbs-White must now be shown the substitutes bench.
James McAtee is after Gibbs-White’s shirt
McAtee produced a very eye-catching performance from the bench and although he couldn’t help Forest find a goal, it wasn’t through a lack of trying.
The youngster is a number 10 by trade and he won’t be happy to have once again been substituted on in a wide position by Espirito Santo.
The Forest boss simply had to hook Gibbs-White today and given that he wasn’t really doing anything to warrant his shirt, it felt strange that he stayed on.
Last season, with options in short supply, there was a case for keeping Gibbs-White on the pitch even when his probing wasn’t always going his way.
Now, however, Espirito Santo has no excuse and a change simply must be made when the Reds go to Arsenal after the international break.
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