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Cape Town - Kaizer Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp says Willard Katsande's work ethic, ability to take constructive criticism and improvement in his forward passing is a reason why he is starting again.
Katsande put in a monstrous display in central midfield on Saturday as Chiefs came from behind to defeat Chippa United 4-2 in a Nedbank Cup semi-final.
Khama Billiat was handed the Man-of-the-Match gong though the German takes the view that the destroyer should have been the deserving benefactor.
He told reporters why the veteran is now back in his plans as a starter: "Sometimes I wonder about the man of the match [selections], as I said after Black Leopards. In this game I saw many candidates, but definitely Khama deserved it, there's no doubt about it.
"But I went immediately to the centre of the field where Willard was talking to the referees, and I said to him, 'I don't know the official man of the match is but, for me, you are the man of the match.'
"I'm very critical and I think we definitely grew in our process of understanding each other and how we wanted [him] to play out of this position.
"Sometimes he was in [the team], sometimes completely out, sometimes he came in [off the bench], but I think his reaction at this level is fantastic.
"He is absolutely an example of how you want to have it as a coach. Here and there it doesn't work, but come back, train, working hard, discuss how to do better.
"I was always criticising his backward play and passing to the side, but if you see him now, that's what he has taken into account in order to improve his forward thinking, passing and even his movement.
"That was lacking in the beginning and we struggled to get it right, but he's definitely on a good way as we saw."
