586 Everyone Must Respect the Opponent

Nottingham Forest ushered in the eighth round of the league tournament after their victory over Sunderland. Twain rotated the team again when he considered the Champions League group stage match on October 1st and that the opponent was not strong. He even changed the starting goalkeeper.

Akinfeev had been on the team for quite some time, but apart from pre-season friendlies and the EFL Cup, he had not been allowed to play in important Premier League and Champions League group stage games. This was clearly not the treatment the Russia top goalkeeper wanted to have, and he had been a bit sullen recently. Kerslake told Twain about the situation he had observed and asked him to pay more attention to Akinfeev's mood so as not to affect the stability within the team's locker room.