Following Kaizer Chiefs’ first league defeat of the season, Nasreddine Nabi took longer than expected to arrive at his post-match press conference. The delay seemed to stem from a lengthy discussion with his players in the locker room, where he delivered a message to them.
Nabi’s troops suffered a disappointing 3-1 loss to Sekhukhune United at FNB Stadium on Tuesday night. The defeat was Chiefs’ first of the 2025/26 Betway Premiership campaign, ending a five-game unbeaten streak that included four wins and a draw.
The loss also marked the first time this season that Chiefs conceded a goal, having kept five consecutive clean sheets heading into the match. Babina Noko capitalised on three defensive errors to secure the win. Man of the Match Bradley Grobler netted a brace, and Thabang Monare scored the other goal, while Flavio Silva pulled one goal back for Chiefs.
Despite the setback, the Soweto giants’ head coach, Nabi, insisted that it is too early to panic. He revealed that he told his players that “accidents” happen and that he needs to see a reaction and a comeback from the team.
NABI TELLS CHIEFS PLAYERS ‘WE NEED TO SEE A REACTION’
And with Chiefs now turning their attention to continental football, Nabi also stressed the importance of putting the Sekhukhune game behind them and learning from the mistakes they made.
“I just spoke to the players and told them that an accident can happen like tonight [Tuesday], but what we need to see is a reaction,” said Nabi.
“We also have to keep our heads up and be ready for the next game, especially since it is an African game, which is like two games; it is a knockout. We need to deal with it in a very different approach, and we need to learn from the mistakes we made and concentrate better for the next game.”
NABI BLAMES CHIEFS’ PREVENTABLE MISTAKES FOR DEFEAT
While Nabi acknowledged Sekhukhune’s brilliance, he stated that the loss was a result of his team’s preventable mistakes. The Tunisian tactician insisted that the defeat came down to his players’ errors rather than a lack of preparation.
“I don’t want to undermine the homework done by our opponents, but we lost the game due to mistakes we could have avoided, and they led to goals,” said Nabi.
He continued: “Regarding the long balls, the first goal was two players going for the same ball, and after the flick, there was no cover. For the second goal, we had the ball but gave it away in a very critical area. The third goal was also a long ball and a flick.
“We have to acknowledge the intelligence of Grobler, but we believe these are mistakes we could have avoided because we knew we were going to play against a team that uses a lot of long balls on him. When you play against such teams, there are two ways to deal with that: either you press them very high and not let them make those long balls, or you let them make those long balls and drop your defensive block to play for the second and third ball. We were not good at those things.”
Nabi will be eager to get back to winning ways when his Chiefs side travels to Angola to face Kabuscorp S.C.P. on Saturday in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup first preliminary round.
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