The zig-zag pattern which has been the definition of Nasreddine Nabi's first season at Kaizer Chiefs could be getting worse with Mamelodi Sundowns standing in wait as the next opponents.
Chiefs were humiliated 4-1 by SuperSport United in their last outing nine days ago and since then have watched Sundowns score 11 past three opponents.
Marumo Gallants were beaten 3-1 just 24 hours after the Soweto giants succumbed to Matsatsantsa, before TS Galaxy and Sekhukhune United were both handed four.
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Four is what the men in Gold and Black also got when they last played Sundowns in November.
It is looking just difficult to find any drop of inspiration that Nabi could use to pump his team up for what could be third time lucky on Saturday afternoon in Atteridgeville.
Nabi has already failed twice this season to get anything from The Brazilians, who took all three points in a 2-1 win at the end of September and then delivered a 4-0 drubbing in the Carling Knockout five weeks later.
Both games were at FNB Stadium.
Even before his arrival at Naturena, it has been all doom in fixtures against the men from Chloorkop.
Chiefs last won (2-1) a match against Sundowns four years ago when Gavin Hunt was still in charge at Naturena.
As a measure of how far ago that was, the two clubs have played another 11 matches since then with Stuart Baxter, Arthur Zwane, Molefi Ntseki, and Cavin Johnson all failing to get a win through the opportunities that they got to play the champions.
The Brazilians have been so dominant that they can count up to nine wins (including MTN8 penalty shootout victory) from those 11 meetings.
Prior to this 11 match run, Chiefs have not waited so long to get victory past Sundowns through the PSL era years.
Just to demonstrate how far apart the two teams are now, Sundowns already have double (51) the points that Chiefs (25) have gathered so far this season.
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Though he only took over in December, Miguel Cardoso has already won (10) more games than Chiefs (7) have managed all season in the league.
From 22 games in charge to date across all competitions, Nabi has failed to win three in a row anywhere along the way while Cardoso has done five wins in a row and then four on the trot on another occasion.
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