Head coach Steve Cooper eased injury fears over Morgan Gibbs-White after the attacker was forced off in Nottingham Forest’s friendly victory over Valencia.
The summer signing took a knock towards the end of the first half at the Mestalla Stadium and was replaced by Brennan Johnson as the visitors rounded off their World Cup break with a 2-1 win. With less than a week to go before the competitive action resumes, Cooper was taking no risks with any of his squad.
Defender Serge Aurier had been substituted in the friendly defeat to Olympiacos last weekend, and did not feature in Spain, while Jack Colback did not travel due to also picking up a knock. Neco Williams and Remo Freuler have both returned from international duty at the World Cup but were absent for personal reasons.
READ MORE: How the Reds rated against Valencia
READ MORE: Re-live the action from the Mestalla Stadium
“It was precautionary,” Cooper told NottinghamshireLive of Gibbs-White. “He took a kick, and once he sat down (on the pitch for treatment) - I don’t even know whether he could have stayed on or not - but we just said, ‘bring him off’. Hopefully it’s not too bad.
“Serge wasn’t fit. He just felt a bit of a twinge in his calf. He wouldn’t have played tonight, but we’re being cautious with him.
“Neco and Remo didn’t play for personal reasons; not because we didn’t want to play them, they had some personal things going on which were more important than playing the game tonight. But they will be back in when we return to training.
“Jack has picked up a bit of a knock. We just didn’t take any risks. You could even see with some of the changes we made in the game. We didn’t take any risks whatsoever with any players.”
Cheikhou Kouyate, Giulian Biancone, Moussa Niakhate and Omar Richards remain sidelined for the Reds ahead of the season’s resumption next week. Forest triumphed against Valencia thanks to goals from Taiwo Awoniyi and Emmanuel Dennis.
Who was your Forest man of the match? Have your say in the comments below
READ NEXT:
