Morgan Gibbs-White may have fired more than just a penalty in Nottingham Forest’s 2–0 Europa League win over Porto; his post-match comments sounded like a quiet dig at former manager Ange Postecoglou.
Six days after Postecoglou’s dismissal, Forest snapped a run of 10 games without victory, giving new boss Sean Dyche the perfect start to life back at the City Ground.
The England midfielder, who opened the scoring from the spot, couldn’t hide his sense of freedom after a turbulent few weeks under the Australian. “I feel like I can finally breathe,” Gibbs-White told TNT Sports. “It’s been a difficult couple of months here with all the change that’s happened, the bad performances, so we’re happy to get our first win out of (10) games.”
Dyche’s instant impact
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Gibbs-White praised Dyche’s approach and the renewed energy around the squad.
“The gaffer came in and said, ‘Last season, you (the team) had an identity — you had a real structure to how you wanted to play’. And he wants to bring that in, and he wants to build on top of that, and I think we showed that tonight.”
He added that the morale shift was already noticeable. “You can feel the morale within the stadium, you can feel the morale within the group at the minute — it feels a lot higher, it feels a lot more energetic, it feels a lot more positive.”
Postecoglou, who lasted just 40 days at Forest, leaves with the club’s worst start in recent memory. For Gibbs-White and company, Dyche’s first outing, aided by two VAR-awarded penalties, marks a fresh breath of air after a stifling spell.