Thomas Tuchel told to ‘explain’ himself after snubbing Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White
Thomas Tuchel told to ‘explain’ himself after snubbing Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White
Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White must have annoyed Thomas Tuchel.
With England 3-0 up against a poor Latvia, the Three Lions head coach decided to introduce Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson from the bench to see the game out – not that the opposition carried any threat at all!
Tuchel praised Gibbs-White on Sunday. He implied that he’d trained brilliantly after being booted out of the matchday squad for the game against Albania and admitted he’d definitely be in his squad for Latvia’s visit to Wembley.
The England head coach needn’t have bothered though and in not giving him a minute of action, he’s essentially done the dirty on Gibbs-White for a third time in just over a week.
Jeff Stelling defends Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White
The Forest fans singing towards Tuchel after he’d originally omitted him from the squad must have seriously hurt the German.
In this role, he’s going to need thick skin but in reality, there was absolutely no point in calling up Gibbs-White and it feels like nothing more than a token gesture right now.
Stelling is by no means a Forest supporter but the TalkSPORT anchor couldn’t believe what he was watching last night and posted his frustrations on social media after the contest.
He said: “So Thomas Tuchel. Two wins out of two. But please explain – and I am not a Forest fan – why Morgan Gibbs-White got zero minutes. Ditto Dominic Solanke?”
Neither player got any minutes across two internationals and although Forest and Tottenham will be delighted that they’ll return fresh, it makes a mockery of it all that Henderson and Walker were given needless minutes in a dead game.
At 3-0 up and cruising this should have been a perfect chance for both players to get some minutes but sadly Tuchel had other ideas with both of the experienced performers in the squad bumping up their cap tallies.
Morgan Gibbs-White stats 2024/25
It’s pretty farcical that after all of that praise for Gibbs-White in the build-up to the game, he got zero minutes on a night that lacked spark at Wembley Stadium.
Phil Foden managed to get on despite his struggles this season and offered nothing, with Eberechi Eze grasping his opportunity by scoring from the bench.
It’s nothing short of a joke that Tuchel turned to Walker and Henderson. In 2025, why do we, as supporters, still need to see what those two are capable of given their vast experience at this level?
| Morgan Gibbs-White stats 2024/25 | Total |
| Appearances | 25 |
| Goals | 5 |
| Assists | 7 |
| Key Passes | 41 |
| Successful Dribbles | 27 |
There will come a time when the younger players are needed and when they’re not getting experience in dead games like this, the gripe will be that they’ve never sampled football at this level before.
England have a knack for looking backwards with certain players and until a head coach can actually start to focus on the future, football will sadly not be coming home.
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