Nabi believes mentally strong Chiefs can challenge for Carling Knockout title

Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi has insisted that Amakhosi will be going all out to win the Carling Black Label Knockout.

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Chiefs’ latest attempt at a first piece of Premier Soccer League silverware since 2015 starts on Saturday, as they go up against SuperSport United in a last-16 match-up at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane (kick off 8pm).

Chiefs’ ‘winning mentality’

Nabi has been at pains to stress he needs time to build a competitive Chiefs side since taking over at the start of this season. The early signs have been fairly positive, with Betway Premiership wins over Marumo Gallants and AmaZulu, and a narrow loss to Mamelodi Sundowns.

“The fact that we are building a team … does not stop us having a winning mentality,” said Nabi this week.

“Whether it is in the cup or the league, we don’t want to hide behind the fact that we are building and say the result is secondary.

“We are promising all of our fans that in all games, regardless of what they mean, we will be doing our best to get a good result.”

The Chiefs head coach also gave some insight into the planning that went in before he officially took the Amakhosi job.

“I was watching players before I came (to Chiefs), I already had a report regarding the strengths and weaknesses of different players, I was already watching last season,” said Nabi.

“I had a very precise idea of the general state of the team.”

The Tunisian says one of the main things he picked up on was a need to improve the mental strength of his players.

Nabi – ‘We have big young talent at Chiefs

“When the mental state is not there, all of the rest, tactically and physically, it will not follow,” said Nabi.

“There was a deficit in mentality, in character, in the reaction after you lose, in all of this.

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“It was affecting the young players thinking of going into the first team. When senior players act like that it affects the younger players. You have big young talent at Chiefs, but the negative mentality can impact on the character of the younger players.

“All the players here had shown a willingness to change. For example, we conceded against Marumo first. You could see the players were disappointed, their heads went down. We tried to speak to the players to be courageous and double their efforts. And we got the result (Chiefs won the match 2-1). This was a good example of a change of character.”