The insiders close to the club added that Nabi chose to approach the situation differently. Before addressing SuperSport TV for interviews, he went into the dressing room to lift the players' spirits, urging them not to be disheartened and emphasized their commendable efforts despite the unfavourable result.
"Oh yes, in that situation he would normally have been livid and angry but he looked at the game in a different way. The coach went into the dressing room soon after the game even before he could attend to the SuperSport TV interviews just to comfort them and tell them that the loss was beyond their control as they had done enough to win the game and left everything they had on the field of play. Yes, no one is happy to lose or draw but he looked at the fighting spirit of the players and he was happy with that hence his soft spot or kind heart for the players. That was the difference from the other games," the Siya source told Soccer Laduma.
A second insider highlighted that Nabi also believed the match officials' decisions played a role in Amakhosi's defeat, reflecting on several contentious moments which took the headlines, according to the Chiefs coach.
READ: Chiefs' Growing Injury Concerns Amplified!
"The coach (Nabi) felt Mdu (Mduduzi Shabalala) was given a yellow card when they felt it could have been his free-kick. And then there was the issue of the Bradley Cross injury. The match officials did nothing and that's why the coach felt the odds were against his team and his players, that's why he backed them (players) and believed it was hard to win that game despite playing very well. That's why he encouraged them to continue fighting," the second insider stated.
The Glamour Boys will aim to turn their fortunes around in their next fixture, which is against TS Galaxy at Mbombela Stadium on Monday, December 16, having not won in their last three league games, with two losses and one draw.
Soccer Laduma reached out to Chiefs for comment, but there was no response at the time of preparing this story.
