TOUGH TIMES The 2-1 defeat to the 10th-placed Marumo Gallants at FNB Stadium was a seemingly good indicator of Chiefs’ quality at the moment, and it’s something that’s a big concern for coach Nasreddine Nabi.
Image: Itumeleng English, Independent Media
As Kaizer Chiefs fell to their sixth defeat of their Betway Premiership campaign on Saturday, coach Nasreddine Nabi made a revealing admission.
The loss also means Chiefs find themselves outside the top eight in ninth position, with five matches remaining in the season.
After finishing 10th last term, there was renewed hope when the Tunisian Nabi took the reins, but another finish outside the lucrative top-eight would be less than ideal.
The 2-1 defeat to the 10th-placed Marumo Gallants at FNB Stadium was a seemingly good indicator of Chiefs’ quality at the moment, and it’s something that’s a big concern for Nabi.
“We lacked a little bit in leadership, a little bit of conviction in our offensive and defensive actions as well,” Nabi told SuperSport TV following the defeat.
“Unfortunately, we were not our best. The most important thing is the result, and the result is not in our favour, and we are in a very difficult position today as well as our log standing is not very good, and it’s a difficult situation.
Chiefs actually took the lead in the 10th minute through Makabi Lilepo, but Gallants first equalised four minutes before the break via a Matome Mathiane strike. Gallants would find the winner 20 minutes before time, with Daniel Msendami grabbing all three points.
“I would say that in the first half, even before we scored the goal from Lilepo, we were not really good in the game,” said Nabi.
“Maybe it was because of the players that were absent – that didn’t give a good balance to the team. We feel that we had a lot of players coming back from injury, players that were absent. We feel that affected a lot the flow of our game, and as well, we feel like we were not very strong mentally because we were lacking a lot of easy things.
“We tried to correct that in the second half, we got an opportunity to score the second goal – we missed that, and after that, we conceded a goal.
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