Ange Postecoglou shut down a hypothetical question on whether Liel Abada could reasonably ask for more minutes at Celtic.
The winger impressed in the 2-1 win over Livingston and had a goal ruled out by VAR at Parkhead.
After the match, Postecoglou was quizzed on whether Abada has done enough to warrant asking the manager for more game time at the club.
But, Postecoglou wasted little time as he gave short shrift to the hypothetical, stating: "No, that's not the way it works, mate."
"You don't put in requests for game time, it's all earned," he told BBC Sportsound.
"He's done very well, the most important thing with Liel is that he is constantly improving and wants to improve - every day he is looking to be a better player.
"I thought he was great today and really took the game to them. But even him a couple of times in the first half I thought he should have been in areas where we know he is really dangerous and can get goals.
"It's just a re-affirmation for him on his role in the team and why it is important."
READ MORE: 'Working on a couple' - Postecoglou delivers Celtic transfer update
The Celtic boss also offered an early injury update on Anthony Ralston after he was forced off injured in the win.
The full-back took a couple of knocks in the game but appeared to be unable to continue due to a back problem.
Asked if it seemed a serious problem, Postecoglou said: "We'll see, I hope it's nothing too serious. He got banged about a bit today to be fair. He got copped on the ankle then copped one on the nose and then I think his back seized up.
"We'll see how he is, but if Tony has half a chance, he'll play."
Our Celtic Digest newsletter brings exclusive content directly to you rather than solely through the website. You can already find us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram but we will also send bespoke opinion pieces and special features directly to your email inbox every evening. Not only will you receive this article from Sean Martin, Tony Haggerty or Aidan Macdonald (or, sometimes, from all three) but you will also get easy access to our best content from the last 24 hours too. It’s a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening at Ange Postecoglou’s Scottish champions. To sign up, simply take five seconds to type in your email here. Simple!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here