How Morgan Gibbs-White copied Luis Suarez to save Forest and make Spurs look daft | OneFootball

It is a dreadful shame that Evangelos Marinakis is not, at least publicly, active on social media. Although if he was, the absurd Greek billionaire might have tweeted something far less printable than simply calling Morgan Gibbs-White a ‘magician’.

That was the noun John W. Henry felt most apt for Luis Suarez after one particularly daft Liverpool performance in October 2013.

While just three months earlier he was pondering what substance Arsenal had collectively been inhaling after bidding £40,000,001 for the forward’s services that summer, Henry was moved by a smoking Suarez against West Brom.

It was the second goal in his first hat-trick since returning from a suspension for innocently tasting Branislav Ivanovic, which came to mind when watching the latest leg of Gibbs-White’s personal rescue mission at Nottingham Forest.

There was a spiritual similarity in the quality and execution of the headers, even if Gibbs-White’s expert redirection of a Ryan Yates cross was shamefully adjacent to the penalty spot rather than from the edge of the area.

That’s where Suarez inexplicably turned an aimless and very possibly deflected Aly Cissokho delivery into a pinpoint, Roberto Carlos-esque homing missile.

Much like Yates’ ball in against Burnley on Sunday, it made what would ordinarily be a sub-optimal and unorthodox choice of shot from that position and distance a straightforward attempt on goal, albeit only for those playing with supreme confidence and ability.

Both those ludicrous headers coming in 4-1 home wins against relegation-battling teams only added to the air of familiarity.

So, too, the transfer sagas that had engulfed both players before the start of the season. Suarez’s Arsenal dalliance is of oft-told Barclays legend, as will one day be the story of Gibbs-White’s blocked Forest exit.

Many felt Mr. Marinakis had taken Gibbs-White prisoner with that record contract and mildly preposterous announcement when the Forest owner was so affronted by a Champions League club triggering a stipulated release clause in a player’s deal that he stepped in – much like Henry and Liverpool did with Suarez over a decade prior – to basically say it didn’t count because ner ner ner ner ner.

Suarez went on to deliver one of the finest individual seasons in Premier League history after Arsenal were made to look foolish. This has naturally and understandably not been quite as phenomenal from Gibbs-White, but he has helped save Forest and made Spurs look even dafter in the process of mimicking El Pistolero.