Nabi apologises to Kaizer Chiefs fans after a heavy loss to SuperSport United

Chiefs lost 4-1 at home, which is their biggest defeat in the Betway Premiership this season as they missed an opportunity to close the gap with the top three teams.

Nabi blames the loss on fatigue.

"So now I want to speak to the fans because I'm not someone who runs away from responsibility. I want to take this time to explain to them the situation and not necessarily to make excuses,” Nabi said.

“It is true that today's result hurts them and I'm also the first person that it hurts as well as them. This is not the game that they should use to judge their team or at least the potential of their team.

“This kind of accident happens in all championships and it can even happen that the score is higher than what we've seen today. It's not possible to be a good team three days earlier and then three days after you are a weak team, it's not possible.

“As I said, we cannot always give excuses but I'm very understanding when it comes to my players and today I understood that they gave their best like in the previous games and they were tired.

“So, that's the reason why I would ask you [the media] to be indulgent with the players as you have done it in the happy times, do it also in the difficult times."

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Chiefs finished this game with 10-men after the temperamental Gaston Sirino received his marching orders for a second bookable offense for an off-the-ball incident.

Nabi also explained Pule Mmodi's early substitution in the 37th minute after he was pulled out for Mduduzi Shabalala.

Mmodi was among the best performers during last weekend's 3-0 win over Chippa United in the Nedbank Cup.

But Nabi says, like many players on the team, he suffered from fatigue.

"It was not necessarily a technical change, I noticed that most of the players were not in the game. If I had the chance to substitute, six or seven players, I would have done it,” he added.

 “I could see that Mmodi has given a lot in the previous game and today already in the early minutes, I could see he was not in the game and he was tired but as I mentioned, if I could change six or seven players, I could have done so."