Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter says the reason he excluded Itumeleng Khune from Amakhosi's opening DStv Premiership fixture against TS Galaxy was purely tactical and through no fault of the player.
In Sunday's 0-0 draw with Galaxy, Chiefs had Bruce Bvuma in goal, and Daniel Akpeyi was the benched understudy.
Fans were surprised not to see Khune in the squad, especially after Baxter praised the 34-year-old recently.
Khune was in action last week for Chiefs in their penalty shoot-out loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8, but Baxter says the goal-stopper was dropped purely as a tactical reason and not through any fault of his own or anything related to the MTN8 match.
"(There is) nothing wrong with him, nothing he did against Sundowns. We just thought that this would be a longer game from their side," Baxter told the media.
"As it turns out, it was. So, it was going to be a more mobile, out of your penalty area sort of goalkeeper's role. We thought Bruce was the best one of our four who was more suited to that."
"I spoke we Itu before we left, and I said 'I am not going to put you on the bench, you stay here and train hard, and it's up for grabs again on Wednesday (against Baroka FC)."
On Wednesday, Chiefs will be up against Baroka FC at the FNB Stadium in their next league clash.