‘Don’t provoke me’: Nabi reacts angrily, asked if he is still right coach for Chiefs

Embattled Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi reacted angrily when he was asked if he is still the right man to lead the club after they suffered a 2-1 Soweto derby loss to Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium on Saturday. 

Ninth-positioned Amakhosi remain outside the top eight in the Betway Premiership with three matches remaining in their season. They have lost 12 games and on Saturday suffered a double league loss to Pirates. 

The race for the top eight is going down to the wire with teams down to 14th spot still in with a chance of playing in the MTN8 next season. Chiefs seem certain to have to win their remaining matches against Sekhukhune United and Polokwane City, and then have other results go their way, to end in the top half. 

Amakhosi face another derby on Saturday, meeting Pirates in the Nedbank Cup final at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, and another defeat may come with serious consequences for Nabi and his technical staff. 

Asked after Saturday's defeat if he remains the right man to help Amakhosi to reclaim their glory days, Nabi did not take kindly to the question. 

“Normally I wouldn’t answer this question but I am going to respond to you,” he said. 

“I don’t think you [the questioner] are the right person to decide if am going to stay or not. My role as to why I am here at the club is the process and we can’t expect immediate results. 

“I came here for the process and you can’t ask me why I am staying here because the results are bad. Don’t provoke me because I am not a young coach, I have a lot of experience. 

“Talk to me about tactics of the game but don’t provoke me. I am not nervous because I lost the match.” 

Nabi said Chiefs did not take advantage of their good start where they took an early lead in the third minute via Glody Lilepo before goals from Evidence Makgopa (24th minute) and Relebohile Mofokeng (69th) won the game for Pirates. 

“Unfortunately, this is a game we should not have lost. When you look at the performances of the two teams, we started the game well.

“We felt we had the opportunity to kill the game but we didn’t take our opportunities to kill it when we were in our best moments. 

“When we were in possession of the ball, we lost it through tactical mistakes and conceded goals, but that is the nature of the game. When you are in your best moments in the game, you need to take your opportunities to kill the game and the confidence of the opponent and we did not do that.” 

The result came at a cost for Chiefs as they will lose defender Bradley Cross due to suspension for the Nedbank final after he received a red card in the dying minutes at FNB Stadium.