Rafa Benitez has admitted that Jean-Philippe Gbamin's situation is "complicated" after recent decisions to leave the midfielder on the bench.
The 26-year-old was handed his first Premier League start in over two years when Everton made the trip to face Wolves at the beginning of the month.
However, the former Ivory Coast international was replaced by Fabian Delph at half time after what was a sub-par performance, with the Blues going on to lose 2-1 at Molineux.
Since then Gbamin has been left on the bench while Mason Holgate was introduced in midfield against Spurs, while Tyler Onyango was preferred in the recent defeat to Man City.
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And, when asked about the former Mainz man, Benitez admitted that he has to accept the decisions he has made - and must keep training hard to work his way back into the side.
Benitez told his pre-match press conference: "I will say that, to be fair, it's complicated.
"After two years to play against Wolves, a team that was passing the ball, was not easy for him. It was not easy for the team or for him.
"We had to make a decision against Tottenham with 15 minutes to go, I put in Holgate who used to play in this position sometimes.
"It was not great, we have to be honest it didn't work, but you have to make these kind of decisions and the players have to accept that sometimes it's like that.
"You have to go there and even if you're not ready you have to perform. If not, the only way to change that next decision is to be working harder.
"In this case Gbamin has been training well today so I'm happy with that. Hopefully he can understand you have to make a decision and it's just your job."
