Nabi still believes in Chiefs’ youngsters despite heavy loss to Sundowns

Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi has made it clear the future of his plans at Naturena lies in building his team around the club’s young players.

This despite most of Chiefs’ greenhorns falling short in showing how far they've matured when Amakhosi were outplayed and beaten 4-0 by Mamelodi Sundowns in their Carling Knockout Cup quarterfinal at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

Sundowns and Orlando Pirates have given trust to their young players from their development ranks this season and this has come with a degree of success.

The difference with Chiefs is there seems to be an over-reliance and huge expectation that young players are ready to carry the team when the going gets tough. The truth is the likes of Mfundo Vilakazi, Mduduzi Shabalala and Samkelo Zwane need more guidance and time to gain confidence playing with stars with a degree of command, poise and experience.

Nabi defended starting with young players such as Wandile Duba, Rushwin Dortley, Bradley Cross, Zwane and Shabalala against Sundowns and having Vilakazi come off the bench. 

“We can agree Sundowns is a good team that has experience locally and on the continent, but we believe that with a lot of experience our players can play and sometimes they make mistakes,” he said.

“It doesn’t make sense when you have a big game like this to be scared to play young players. It is in such games that they will improve. In the end they will show their technical abilities.”

Nabi refused to blame Zwane, for example, for the first goal conceded by Chiefs after he cheaply lost possession near the area, forcing central midfield partner Njabulo Blom to foul Lucas Ribeiro in the box.

Sundowns’ second goal also showed Chiefs need to improve their defending as the ball bounced off Bradley Cross' leg as he tried to block Khuliso Mudau’s pass and went to Iqraam Rayners, who had plenty of time and space to double his and Sundowns' tally by the 23rd minute.

“It’s true some of the youngsters didn’t show what they wanted,” Nabi said. “You spoke about Zwane but we believe it is a learning curve for players such as Zwane.

“The experienced players need to take more responsibility [in guiding the younger ones]. That’s what we think didn’t happen today [Saturday] because all those young players are looking to those who are experienced.

“They need to understand how big the history is. Zwane is young but he was not the worst player on the field. There were others who didn’t play well and those players are more experienced than him.”

This statement seems a clear indication Nabi has to look for a better class of experienced players in the January transfer window — something the Tunisian has already said won’t be easy.

That Chiefs' frailties have been exposed twice by Sundowns so early in the season could be a blessing in disguise. In terms of their immediate goals of a better 2024-2025 campaign and long-term of making Amakhosi competitive again after a disastrous nine seasons without silverware, much will depend on how they acknowledge their shortcomings and what the club does about it.

Nabi and his charges have three weeks to regroup, work on their frailties and recharge their batteries before they host Richards Bay FC in their Betway Premiership match at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane on November 27.