Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi says he would never revert to ‘helicopter football’ to grind out results as it goes against the DNA of the club.
Chiefs are currently ninth in the league and on a seven-game winless run with fans naturally disgruntled after another inconsistent league season but are one game away from ending their decade-long trophy drought.
They face their fierce rivals Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday, for a second successive Soweto Derby, with the this weekend past seeing the Buccaneers win 2-1 at FNB Stadium.
In the build-up to the game, Chiefs lost 2-1 to Marumo Gallants at the same venue, and their Moroccan head coach sympathised with Nabi, rating him amongst the finest coaches in Africa.
“Thank you so much, for my colleague Abdeslam Ouaddou, he’s a big name in Morocco with an excellent international career, a professional in Europe and with the national team with Morocco playing alongside Noureddine Naybet, you remember,” Nabi said about his praise.
“I don’t have a relationship with him before, it’s the first time, first contact with him in this game, I say thank you but I don’t consider myself one of the best coaches, but I love my team, I have big passion for football, I believe in my process.
“I understand the fans, the critics, the result are very bad and I understand but I know why I am here, I don’t want to give too much excuses, I take responsibility and move to the future, with everyone in the same direction, taking the right decisions for the future.
“I am sure we will win in this process together, it’s normal [the noise], the fans love winning, I understand them – you need to accept that when you lose too much points, it’s normal to get this reception, this negative reaction but you don’t need take this critics [that hard] because I believe in this process and I know what’s needed to go to the next step.”
While Nabi acknowledged poor result come with pressure and critics at the stadium, in public, on social media, he stated he would never compromise their style of play as it goes against the ‘process’ they are in to build the squad – which in his vision will win games and play entertaining football for the club’s passionate support base.
“I think we have made progress, I give you can example, if I wanted immediate results, it’s possible, that when I started having some problems with fans, players – I could play low-block and helicopter football and I’m sure I wouldn’t lose the points as we lost this season,” he added.
“But honestly – if I come here, Chiefs recruited me, not to play a low-block, this is not the DNA of Chiefs, I need to respect the DNA of this club, it’s not possible that a big club plays a low-block for immediate results to make fans happy.
“You have to take responsibility, how many have we lost and played very well, we don’t score but concede with set-pieces or counter-attacks because we play with a high line, with protagonist football, and this you need to accept you lose some games… But it opens ones eyes for what we need for the future.
“We [want to] play the right football, Chiefs football, with results, the difference is here, I’m honest I don’t work for myself here, for my CV only, but I work for the process to develop that style of play at Chiefs.”
