Stoke City manager Mark Hughes admits he was more amused than disappointed when he saw Peter Crouch's tweet complaining about a lack of game time
Crouch, 35, has started just twice for the Potters this season, once in the league in the 1-0 defeat against Everton and once in the League Cup in a 4-0 win at Stevenage.
And despite scoring a hat-trick atBroadhall Way, Crouch has failed to make his way into the starting line-up since.
One fan tweeted the towering forward:"@petercrouch You ruin my life on Fifa", to which Crouch replied"At least I'm getting a game somewhere."
But Hughes sees the funny side in Crouch's tweet, insisting that he must stay patient to take his chance this season.
"From past experience, Pete's quite sharp on Twitter so I keep a look out and if people tell me he's put something up it's usually quite amusing," Hughes told theStoke Sentinel.
"I've got no comment about it, it's probably true that he's a little bit frustrated. He's shown good signs in training and when it's the right time to introduce him again we'll do it. He's got to be patient like a number of other people at the moment because we're winning games and playing well.
"He doesn't knock on the door very often but he has done in the past. Everybody comes to a point when they're a little bit frustrated sometimes when you feel you're not getting opportunities. He's not the most forceful in that regard but he has come and seen me in the past and you'd expect that from a seasoned pro, with experience we value.
"At the moment all the ones out of the team are in a difficult situation. We are in a position when we want continuity which we've lacked prior to this run. That was a difficulty we had, that we didn't have that continuity in selection but we've had it in recent times and we've improved our performances as a consequence."
Hughes added:"Some games he will start, some he will come on and make an impact, some, unfortunately for him, he will miss out. That's true for any number of players."