Itumeleng Khune has weighed in on the comments made by Kaizer Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi about the lack of professionalism displayed by some of the players in their 2-2 draw against Royal AM.
The Tunisian mentor laid into his players after they squandered a two-goal lead in Polokwane giving the KwaZulu-Natal outfit a chance to come back for a share of the spoils. This is what Nabi told the media about the performance.
"I feel like today it's a lack of professionalism, we could have ended the game in the first half. This game could have ended with five, six, seven or eight goals, but we did not convert the opportunities that we had. Sometimes you don't score because it's a lack of collective or ego. If you don't respect football, football won't respect you. I am very very frustrated about the two points that we have lost today because we controlled the game from the first until the last minute, but that's what happens when you let the opponent live," Nabi said during the post-match press conference.Khune echoes the sentiments of coach Nabi, saying that the result was a wake-up call for Chiefs' players who managed to squander the lead in two matches so far, having done so against Magesi FC as well.
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"All I can say is that there has been a structure and coach Nabi came with his own philosophy. But obviously Kaizer Chiefs also has a way of doing things, and obviously the two parties came together, and they said let's pull towards one direction, which is to take the club back to where it belongs, which is winning trophies and winning matches," Khune told the Siya crew.
"But again, it's not going to be easy when there's no distinct leadership on the field – and I think that was Chiefs' wake-up call this past weekend to say you've played against Magesi, you had a lead and you gave it away. Didn't you learn from that? Now you go play against a wounded Royal AM because there's been speculation on social media regarding the Chai lady, but it has nothing to do with football, we'll just focus on football. But I feel Kaizer Chiefs players should have handled the game better by applying game management skills because when leading 2-0, you have to definitely shut the back door and make sure that you protect the lead. So, leadership is what was lacking. They needed someone to take charge and say, 'you know what, we can't afford to throw away a 2-0 lead'.
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"In the long run, Kaizer Chiefs can't afford to be dropping points when they should be collecting, you know. Because the way the league is so tight, you lose one match and you find yourself out of the top eight in position 13 or 14. Whereas, if you win one match, you find yourself in the top eight. So, these clubs cannot afford for the gaps to be too big and start realising that they need to start picking up points towards end of the season," he said.
