Nottingham Forest skipper Morgan Gibbs-White didn’t bother hiding behind politeness. As the weekend’s clash approaches, he voiced what many Premier League squads have quietly begun to admit — Manchester United have unleashed a new terror for defenders, and right now, he’s scorching hot. “If there’s one player I don’t want to face, it’s him,” Gibbs-White confessed. “This guy has turned into a monster under Amorim. Everyone in our dressing room has seen the clips. Nobody’s figured out how to stop him yet.”
That player is Matheus Cunha — the same one who was once doubted, labelled as all hustle and no killer instinct. The same forward pundits dismissed as lacking that ruthless, clinical edge. But those old criticisms no longer hold water. Under Ruben Amorim’s guidance, Cunha has shed his skin. The hesitant, unpolished striker is gone. In his place stands a predator sharpened by belief and precision.
Now, he plays like a man reborn. His confidence is sky-high; his pressing, relentless. He drives at defenders with a wild energy that borders on obsession. Every touch is crisp, every movement deliberate. His link-up play now bites with purpose, and his finishing — once his biggest weakness — now carries a sting that makes goalkeepers second-guess their reflexes. This is no longer a player looking to prove something; it’s a hunter who knows the kill is coming.
You can see it all in the details — the slick first touches, the smarter positioning, the controlled aggression. Even his body language has changed; it radiates command. His goals no longer look lucky or scrappy — they’re engineered, timed, and inevitable. Amorim didn’t just give him a place in the lineup; he handed him a mission: “You’re not just a part of this team. You’re the trigger.” Cunha took that message to heart — and now he’s detonating defences across England.
The evidence is all over the pitch. Forest’s analysts have watched him dismantle Aston Villa’s backline, force Arsenal’s defenders into panic, and create goals from thin air. They’ll try to contain him — double-mark him, cut off his passing lanes, drag him out of rhythm. But they already know the uncomfortable truth: once Cunha switches into takeover mode, there’s no containing the storm. His current form is powered by hunger, not hype — and hunger doesn’t tire easily.
So when Forest step out on Saturday, it’s not just another fixture. It’s a test against a version of Matheus Cunha molded and unleashed by Amorim — the version keeping defenders up at night. Gibbs-White summed it up best: he knows exactly what’s coming. And Cunha? He’s not after applause or headlines. He’s after damage — and lately, he’s been leaving plenty of it behind.
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