Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White is currently on duty with Thomas Tuchel's England
Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White in action for England against Czech Republic
Stuart Pearce thinks Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White deserved more game-time for England in midweek(Image: Getty)
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Stuart Pearce has argued Morgan Gibbs-White deserved more minutes for England in midweek as he compared the Nottingham Forest ace to Peter Beardsley.
Gibbs-White has played 16 minutes across the Three Lions' first two matches of their four-game camp. Originally omitted from the squad, he was called up following the withdrawal of Cole Palmer and has been a late substitute in the Nations League clashes with Spain and Czech Republic.
Brought on in the 81st minute against the latter on Tuesday evening, the Reds playmaker was particularly lively and created a couple of chances during his short time on the pitch. Noticing a likeness to Newcastle United great Beardsley, Pearce is of the opinion Gibbs-White should have come off the bench at half-time of England’s 2-0 win.
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"He's playing extremely well for his club. When he plays well for Forest, Forest play well. Simple as that," Forest legend Pearce told talkSPORT.
"In hindsight, (Tuesday night) would have been a perfect game for him. It really would. I think at half-time, to bring him on for (Myles) Lewis-Skelly would have been absolutely ideal. I think he'd have offered that energy, that drive. The game needed someone to play and follow, play and follow, and create a reaction in the back line.
"He's got some traffic in front of him. If you said to me at the outset of the game, who do you start, Gibbs-White or do you start (Morgan) Rogers? If you're not playing (Jude) Bellingham, I would say Rogers.
"But on the way the game panned out, I think you needed someone of Gibbs-White's energy and drive. He's almost Peter Beardsley-esque, you know?
"I mean, he'll run around and he'll scurry around, and he'll cause problems for the opposition with sheer energy. This game needed him, I think."
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Gibbs-White will hope to get another opportunity to catch the eye of boss Thomas Tuchel this weekend. England take on Croatia on Saturday, before rounding off the international window by hosting Czech Republic at Wembley next Tuesday.
The Reds’ No.10 missed out on this summer’s World Cup, despite ending last season in sensational form for his club. He has picked up from where he left off in the Garibaldi this term but knows he faces stiff competition in the national team.
“We have incredible amounts of talent,” Gibbs-White said. “It’s definitely the most competitive position. If you look at the positions that I play in, you've got Morgan Rogers, Jude Bellingham, me, Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon. If you want to put it on the left.
“So you look at them names and it's stacked. But all I can do is just focus on myself and hopefully me playing for club level and putting performances there puts me in a good space.
“I feel like the numbers that I've got last season speak for itself. But yeah, I've definitely seen a change in my game. And I feel like I took care of the ball a lot better. Took my chances when I need to, had better composure in front of goal. And so yeah, I definitely improved and I've started the season off okay and so it's all about just building, continuing and trying to improve.”
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