Nottingham Forest defeated Brentford 3-1 at the City Ground to ensure a solid start to the 2025/26 campaign.
Morgan Gibbs-White was linked with Tottenham in the summer, but there is now no need for speculation over his future after Evangelos Marinakis handed him a new deal.
Gibbs-White ran the show yesterday and showcased where his loyalties lie with a performance that had Forest fans extremely excited for what is to come this season.
Nuno Espirito Santo tossed Gibbs-White the captain’s armband for the contest and once again, he led by example as Brentford were put to the sword.
Nottingham Forest v Brentford - Premier League
Photo by Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Danny Murphy shares what he noticed about Morgan Gibbs-White
Murphy was watching the Forest match for Match of the Day 2 and it’s a fair assessment to say he was blown away by the Forest number 10.
Gibbs-White is off the mark when it comes to assists this season and now he can settle into the campaign and help Forest kick on again after a solid season in 2024/25.
“If you love football, you can only enjoy watching that performance today.
“He was absolutely sensational, I think he looks happy, creative, and there is so much to like about him, he could have been out of the door and he more or less was, but Forest fans, if they loved him before, they’d love him even more now.
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Murphy said: “He’s a leader, he’s demanding the ball, he pops up all over the place, he had a lovely role today in that 10 role. I saw him play, last season, wide, as a 10, in central midfield. Intelligent footballers can play anywhere, and he just keeps getting the ball and dictating.
“He’s content because the speculation has ended, and he can look forward to a season playing in Europe.
“This performance was just electric.”
Morgan Gibbs-White statistics vs Brentford
Gibbs-White came off with around 12 minutes of the contest remaining but he’d already done the damage to a hapless Brentford team.
The Bees have lost their influential manager and a number of top players this summer, making Keith Andrews’ job extremely difficult, to say the least.
Morgan Gibbs-White stats vs Brentford Total
Minutes 78
Assists 1
Pass Accuracy 79.6
Distance Covered 9.8km
Ground Duels Won 4/5
Who Scored Rating 7.56
It was Gibbs-White, along with Elliot Anderson and Ibrahim Sangare, who stole the show for Forest, however, in a performance that increases the excitement levels.
Keeping Gibbs-White looks like being the club’s best piece of business this summer and the hope now will be that he can stay fit and propel himself into Thomas Tuchel’s plans for the World Cup.