Morgan Gibbs-White admission made as Nottingham Forest frustrations made clear
Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo admitted Nottingham Forest had missed the suspended Morgan Gibbs-White as they fell to their first Premier League defeat of the season.
A controversial Raul Jimenez penalty proved to be the difference as the Reds lost 1-0 to Fulham at the City Ground on Saturday. But overall, it was a flat performance from the hosts as their five-match unbeaten run in the league came to an end.
Forest were without Gibbs-White following his red card in the 2-2 draw at Brighton and Hove Albion. And they lacked a creative spark in the England international’s absence, managing just one shot on target on a below-par afternoon.
Decisions from the match officials only added to the Reds’ frustrations. Murillo was deemed to have fouled Andreas Pereira for the Cottagers’ spot-kick but challenges on Taiwo Awoniyi and Anthony Elanga went unpunished by referee Josh Smith. Below is what Nuno had to say after the final whistle.
On the penalty calls…
“We all want peace and for things to continue well; to not have to speak about the referees. But it was bad, wasn’t it?
“In Fulham’s box we had the situations with T and Anthony. They (the officials) checked and looked, but they don’t have the same opinion as we do. We just have to hope that for the next game we are not talking about referees.
“Let’s try to avoid (talking about officials) and give the referees peace. I think they are trying to improve, but today was not the best day.
“We don’t want to talk about it (referee decisions). Nobody wants to talk about it. When we come to the game, we don’t think about the ref, we just want to compete and play the game and hope the referee gets things right. But today he didn’t do a good job, so let’s hope he improves - like we have to do also. We didn’t play a good game so we have to improve.”
On whether VAR is improving the game…
"That's what we wanted. We want the truth of the game to come out with all the help they have; they can freeze the images and stop. Then you look back and think why one box is given and the other one not because there is contact. We can discuss if it's soft or not, but we just want things to work well.”
On whether Gibbs-White was missed…
"Of course we missed Morgan. He is a very special player for us. But we have solutions in the squad.
"We started with one, then we changed. This is what we have to find through the season. We are going to have many situations with absences and we have to find solutions. No doubt Morgan is a very special player for us.”
On the performance…
“We are disappointed with the result and disappointed with the game also, and disappointed with the incidents that happened in the game. There were things we didn’t do well.
"First half, the game was balanced. It didn't flow for both teams.
"Second half started with the penalty incident. We conceded, the game stretched and was open. We made some subs and tried to push until the end.
"It was not our best performance, definitely. The game was very tight. If you speak about performance, it was not our best one.”
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On the team selection, leaving wingers on the bench…
"We started with Elliot (Anderson) and Nico (Dominguez), and T up front. I think we managed the game well. We wanted our midfield to associate a little bit more, but Fulham were aggressive and didn't give us much space.
"This is what we have to do - prepare the team and look at the options we have. Sometimes it works out; sometimes the players that come in create an impact, sometimes not so much. We regroup, react and try to bounce back against Chelsea.”
On a 30,000-plus City Ground crowd…
"This is what frustrates us the most, that even though we started the season really well we have not achieved the home win that our fans deserve.”