Nabi: Mmodi Was Tired

Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi explained the early substitution of Pule Mmodi, stating that the player was not performing well and that, ideally, he would have substituted six or seven players due to their lackluster performance.

Mmodi was replaced by Mdu Shabalala in the 37th minute of Chiefs’ 4-1 defeat to SuperSport United in the Betway Premiership match at FNB Stadium on Tuesday night.

At the time of the substitution, Chiefs were trailing 2-1. SuperSport’s goals had come from two former Chiefs players, Samir Nurkovic and Christian Saile.

Both SuperSport goals originated on Chiefs’ left flank, where Mmodi was meant to be supporting Bradley Cross, who was left exposed.

Chiefs had briefly equalized through Glody Lilepo, who canceled out Nurkovic’s opener, but conceded two more goals in the second half to lose the match.

This was the second time this season that Chiefs conceded four goals in a single game, having suffered the same fate against Mamelodi Sundowns in the Carling Knockout Cup quarter-finals.

Following the defeat, Nabi expressed his disappointment with the team’s overall performance, saying he noticed several players were significantly below par and that he would have made numerous changes if possible.

“It was not necessarily a tactical change,” Nabi explained. “I noticed that most of the players were not in the game. If I had a chance to substitute six or seven players, I could have done it.

“I could see that Mmodi had given a lot in the previous game, and today (on Tuesday), in the early minutes, I could see he was not in the game and he was tired. But as I mentioned, if I could have changed six or seven players, I would have done so.”

Chiefs also finished the game with ten men after Gaston Sirino was sent off in the 69th minute for a petulant reaction towards Ghampani Lungu, who had scored SuperSport’s third goal, after wanting the ball back quickly.

The loss meant that SuperSport completed a league double over Chiefs for the first time since the 2011/12 season, during Hunt’s first stint as SuperSport coach.