Head coach Nasreddine Nabi has provided his assessment of what went wrong for Kaizer Chiefs as they fell 4-0 to rivals Mamelodi Sundowns in the last eight of the Carling Knockout.
Amakhosi suffered a humiliating 4-0 beating from Sundowns at a sold-out FNB Stadium on Saturday thanks to goals from Peter Shalulile, Khuliso Mudau and Iqraam Rayners (brace).
In the encounter, Chiefs were dominated on all fronts, enjoying just 40% of ball possession and managing only four shots on target, half of Sundowns' eight shots on target.
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Chiefs also finished the game a man down after captain Inacio Miguel received his marching orders early in the second half in what what a day to forget for the The Soweto Giants.
Assessing the match at the post-match press conference, Nabi was reluctant to place blame on his players and conceded that Sundowns were the far better team on the day.
"I am going to take full responsibility for today's game because I don't want to criticise my players in front of the media," Nabi said.
"But I will do it internally. Everyone will take responsibility. But I believe that it's true that they were far from their best performance because even at the beginning of the game, they were very nervous. A lot of missed passes and a lot of balls lost."
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"It would be very simple if you had to change your way of playing our game plan every day. It showed that we played against a quality team that was pressing high, and we knew that would happen.
"But do we need to play long balls to [Mfundo] Vilakazi and the other players? No. Instead, we want to improve our quality of play. We were a little nervous, we need to improve our decision, our technique and our confidence with the teammates."
Chiefs still have the Nedbank Cup and league title to fight for and The Phefeni Glamour Boys will return to competitive action on 27 November when they take on Richards Bay.