Nasreddine Nabi has issued a stern challenge to Kaizer Chiefs' senior players after the performance of midfielder Samkelo Zwane came under fire during the 4-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns in the Carling Knockout quarterfinals.
Following a decent start to the season, Chiefs took a couple of steps backward as they suffered a a humiliating 4-0 loss to Sundowns at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
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In the encounter, the Glamour Boys were dominated on all fronts, enjoying just 40% of ball possession and managing only four shots on target, half of their opponents' eight shots on target.
In the aftermath, plenty of fingers have been pointed at some of the players for failing to rise to the occasion.
One of them was Zwane, who struggled to assert himself against a far more experienced midfield of Teboho Mokoena and Bathusi Aubaas, and whose misplaced back-heel pass ultimately led to the home side conceding a penalty for the first goal.
However, speaking at the post-match press conference, Nabi came to the defence of the 22-year-old, insisting the club's experienced players should have done better.
"It's true that some of the youngsters didn't show what we wanted," revealed a disappointed Nabi.
"You spoke about Zwane, but we believe that it's a learning curve, especially what we need to do in these kind of big games. The experienced players need to take responsibility. That's something that today didn't happen.
"All those young players, they are looking up to those players with more experience, who have played these kinds of games more than 100 times. They are looking up to them.
"They need to understand how big this club is, how big the history of this club is. Nobody, no matter how skilful he might be, is above this club. That's their responsibility in difficult moments like this.
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"Zwane is a young player, he still has all those years ahead of him. He's going to improve and he wasn't the worst player on the field. There were others and more experienced him.
"That's why those experienced players with experience need to take responsibility," said the Belgian-Tunisian.
Amakhosi only return to competitive action towards the end of the November when they host Richards Bay FC at FNB Stadium.
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