‘It has always been the same if Nabi is here or not here,’ Petersen told reporters.
Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brandon Petersen has rejected the idea that Amakhosi players enjoy their time more under assistant coaches Khalil Ben Youssef and Cedric Kaze than they did when Nasreddine Nabi was in charge.
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Nabi is back in Tunisia and has confirmed he has parted ways with Chiefs. The club, however,, have thus far been more cryptic.
Chiefs’ fast start without Nabi
Chiefs won all three of Betway Premiership games at the start of this season. That was after Nabi had to leave to go back home after his wife was involved in a serious road accident.
“It has always been the same if Nabi is here or not here,” Petersen told reporters at the Carling Black Label Knockout launch at FNB Stadium on Monday.
“It is a conspiracy (to say the players enjoy the assistant coaches more). For us it is important to respect whoever is in charge. Our job is to play football and listen to the coaches.”
Nabi’s departure was first reported on just two days after Chiefs had lost in the Premiership for the first time this season, going down 3-1 at home to Sekhukhune United on September 16.
Kaze and Ben Youssef at the Chiefs helm. for the first time (they also won two games while Nabi was suspended last season) when the side went down 1-0 to Kabuscorp of Angola in a Caf Confederation Cup first preliminary round, first leg tie in Luanda.
Chiefs will have a chance to turn that around at FNB Stadium on Saturday, but first they will host Marumo Gallants in the Premiership at the same venue on Wednesday.
Amakhosi will be keen to find the solidity in defence again that saw them not concede a single goal in their first five Premiership games.
‘An opportunity … to fix it’
“I think for us it is not to panic, or for us to start doubting ourselves” said Petersen on Chiefs’ poor week so far.
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“We have proven to ourselves that we are capable of doing well and not conceding. So for us it is to take a step back, analyse ourselves, see where we went wrong and we have an opportunity on Wednesday to fix it.”