Maluleka took up a rather surprising role in Chiefs recent 1-1 draw with arch-rivals Orlando Pirates as his regular side-kick Katsande was left out of a Derby starting line-up for the first time since October 2011.
The Zimbabwean international eventually came on for the final 25 minutes, as Middendorp looked to close up shop with Amakhosi holding a dangerous 1-0 lead at the time, only to surrender it with 10 minutes to go.
After the match, the German tactician explained that no player was guaranteed a starting berth at the club as he referenced Khama Billiat’s earlier omission against AmaZulu.
However, ‘Mido’ has now explained the tactical reason behind the move and believes it proved successful as they finally ended Pirates’ three-match dominance with a share of the spoils.
“I think if you look at Pirates’ midfield, all three of them [Xola Mlambo, Musa Nyatama and Ben Motshwari] are really midfield-based and don’t really join the attack that much,” explained Maluleka.
“Out of the three, you’ll have maybe one [going forward], which is most likely to be Xola. That leaves Musa and Ben sitting back mostly, but even Xola doesn’t really go forward that much.
“So, me dropping deeper without Katsande was more of a tactical decision, with Ekstein and then we had one of the strikers dropping back to help, which also played in our hands because we actually handled it very well, so it was a good move from the coach.”
The 30-year-old again occupied the central midfield without Katsande in their recent 3-0 victory over The Magic FC in the Nedbank Cup, but this was said to have been injury enforced.
Chiefs next face Polokwane City at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday afternoon (15h30).