Nottingham Forest’s European adventure ended on Thursday as Aston Villa beat them 4-0 in their UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg.
GIBBS-WHITE + FOREST INJURY LATEST
Forest took a patched-up side to Villa Park, although the teamsheet looked positive initially.
Morgan Gibbs-White, who suffered a facial injury on Monday, was among the substitutes. So too was Murillo, who had been out for a fortnight with a muscle injury. Dan Ndoye and Ibrahim Sangare, short-term absentees with unspecified issues, were also on the bench.
However, it became apparent that all was not entirely well. The returning foursome played very little part in the warm-up, and despite Forest chasing an aggregate deficit from the 58th minute onwards, all bar Murillo remained unused on the bench. Even then, the Brazilian only came on in the 88th minute for a cramping Jair Cunha, when the Tricky Trees were 4-0 down.
After the game, Vitor Pereira was asked if there was ever any chance of Gibbs-White playing a part.
“No, [there was no chance of him playing today]. If you look at our bench today, we brought three players in conditions to play: Lucca, Bakwa and Yates. Three players injured, without conditions to go inside to help the team, three boys from the academy, and Murillo. Murillo, with a risk to play, not yet ready to play.” – Vitor Pereira on if Morgan Gibbs-White had any chance of playing on Thursday
“No, [not] even for penalties. You know, just to give the energy that we need. Imagine that if not, and we came to this game just with the players from the academy? I asked them to be there with us to try to give us the energy but they are not in conditions to play. Gibbs-White, not in condition. Sangare is not in condition. Dan Ndoye is not in condition. Murillo was not in condition but after, Jair had problems, and we risk a bit, but he’s not in condition. There is a lot of players all out.” – Vitor Pereira on whether his injured players may have come on had the game gone to penalties
Then, the million-dollar question: will Gibbs-White and the rest of the walking wounded, including the absent Ola Aina, be back for Gameweek 36?
It doesn’t sound good, although it’s not totally clear whether Pereira was saying Gibbs-White et al were definitely “out” of the Newcastle United match or whether he was just listing the players who were unavailable on Thursday.
“I don’t know.
“Aina, out. Dan Ndoye, out. Sangare, out. Callum, out. Murillo, out. Morgan, out. It is too much. I don’t know if some or one of them can recover for the next match. I don’t know.” – Vitor Pereira on if he’ll get any players for Sunday
Later, a reporter asked the Forest boss if any of them would feature again in 2025/26, let alone Gameweek 36.
“I cannot answer because I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know about Morgan. I don’t know about Ola. Callum is finished [for] the season. I don’t know about Murillo. Dan, I think Dan maybe can come back.
“But in the end, I need tomorrow. That’s the day to understand the situation.” – Vitor Pereira on whether Morgan Gibbs-White will play again this season
WILL WE HEAR AGAIN FROM PEREIRA BEFORE GAMEWEEK 36?
That might be it for Forest updates pre-deadline.
Pereira’s post-match presser contained a “Newcastle preview”, which very likely takes the place of a presser on Friday.
