Nabi blames fatigue for Kaizer Chiefs’ embarrassing loss against SuperSport

As much as he admitted his team deserved to lose, Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi suggested fatigue played a role in Tuesday's 1-4 Betway Premiership humiliation by SuperSport United. 

Chiefs hosted SuperSport in the league at FNB Stadium just four days after outwitting Chippa United 3-0 in the Nedbank Cup last 16 at the same venue.

Amakhosi came into the game on a promising two wins in succession, having beaten Stellenbosch FC 2-0 in their league clash at Athlone Stadium on February 7.

SuperSport, before facing Amakhosi, had last played seven days earlier, beating Cape Town Spurs 2-1 in the same round of the Nedbank Cup at home.

Nabi felt the extra three days Matsatsantsa had in the build-up gave Gavin Hunt's team the edge. 

“It was a difficult game. From the first minute already you could see it was a bad day for us,” Nabi said.

“I can't give excuses all the time but I believe there's an excuse. I see we didn't have enough time to recover — [we had] two days, whereas SuperSport had a week at least.

“It's a deserved defeat for us. You could see mentally we weren't up to standard — we cracked, unfortunately. The result is painful for us.”

Nabi surprisingly withdrew winger Pule Mmodi, who had been their best player in recent games, for Mduduzi Shabalala in the 36th minute. The Tunisian explained he felt Mmodi was tired and not in the game, adding he would have taken off more players if he could have.

“It wasn't necessarily a tactical change. I noticed most of the players were not in the game. If I had a chance to substitute six or seven players, I could have done it.

“I could see Mmodi had given a lot in a few past games and tonight, already in the early minutes, I could see he was not in the game and he was tired.” 

Former Chiefs strikers Samir Nurković (third minute) and Christian Saile (32nd) scored two goals for SuperSport in the first half before Gamphani Lungu (63rd) and Siphesihle Ndlovu (83rd) added two more in the second 45 minutes.

Saile's strike was an almost immediate response to Glody Lilepo's 30th-minute headed goal.

Chiefs played more than 20 minutes with 10 players after Gaston Sirino was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 69th minute.

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