Nasreddine Nabi, coach of Kaizer Chiefs reacts during the Betway Premiership 2024/25 match between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns at Soccer City in Johannesburg on 28 September 2024
Samuel Shivambu, Backpages
After Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi blamed the media for raising expectations for the club to be title contenders, a former coach at Chiefs has given his take on the matter.
Nabi could not live up to expectations after winning his first two league matches, as they collected only one point from their last three matches, which has meant Amakhosi are already trailing second-placed Mamelodi Sundowns by eight points and are already 11 points behind leaders and rivals Orlando Pirates, although they have a game in hand.
Read: Chiefs Coach: They Will Make Some Mistakes
Since the Tunisian coach’s first game in charge, Amakhosi supporters have been filling the stadiums, confident that the club could have finally found a coach to make them title contenders and end their trophy drought.
The 59-year-old tactician lashed out at the media for creating this hype that Chiefs are contenders for titles, after an anti-climax of losses against SuperSport United and a draw against Magesi.
Muhsin Ertugral, one of the coaches who was successful at Amakhosi, says he understands where Nabi is coming from but he expects the turbulence to continue for the next few months before things could be normalized.
“[The expectations] are not under control, it is too far. The whole story with the fans, obviously it’s fantastic, there’s no group of fans like Kaizer Chiefs fans, in my time if I’m not mistaken we had 33 000 [fans at the stadium] on average, the stadium was always full, it’s a very high number,” Ertugral said on SoccerBeat YouTube Channel.
“People came because they saw a spectacle, a good football and also the team winning most of the time. So the point is there is no magic stick, the coach came in, he needs to understand the culture, the background. He needs to rectify mistakes but rectifying mistakes takes a lot of time.
“I think Nabi is a good coach, he understands the dynamism of South African football but there’s youngsters completely new team build, new technical side, expectations of fans, it’s such a big pressure on players, they are human, so that’s gonna be a problem for the next couple of months. I feel sorry for Nabi because there’s too much hype. Good coaches can make bad teams better but good teams with bad coaches can win the league,” the Turkish mentor concluded.
Read: Nabi: Chiefs’ Expectations Should Not Be Too High
Nabi joined AS FAR Rabat in the 2023/24 season after they had won the Botola Pro title a campaign prior but the Moroccan big spenders could not retain the league title under the Tunisian, after Raja Casablanca edged them by one point.
The 59-year-old earned a reputation as a trophy winning coach after he won back-to-back trebles with Young Africans and led them to the CAF Confederation Cup final before he moved to Morocco.
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