Jurgen Klopp has told his array of Liverpool attackers to fight for their place this season, while taking a jab at former player turned pundit Gary Lineker in the process.
Liverpool have added Mohamed Salah from Roma to join forces with Roberto Firmino, a fit-again Sadio Mane, Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge, among others, to give Klopp a number of options to spearhead Liverpool's attack.
And the German manager's jibe at Lineker was in response to the former Tottenham, Barcelona and England striker's criticism of how he handled Liverpool's selection during their FA Cup flameout against Wolves in January.
Now with Champions League football to contend with in addition to the already busy English league and cup fixture list, Klopp has said that first-choice preference will come from competition in training and performance in matches.
"If [the squad] stays like this, I would say you should perform if you want to play. I cannot decide this. It's the performance that decides it," he said.
"Hopefully we have the opportunity to do things like this [rotate]. It's always like this but only if you have the opportunity to change so hopefully we have it.
"We want to play in three or four competitions as long as even Gary Lineker is happy or whoever. We want to play football for as long as possible and for this we need players. That's the situation."
Regarding further comings and goings at Anfield, Klopp was unsure over plans. The team's only additions so far this summer have come with the arrivals of Dominic Solanke from Chelsea and Salah.
"What can I say? Will the squad change until the 31st August? Probably, maybe," Klopp said. "We are not 100 percent sure.
"Maybe nobody wants the players we have. On the other side maybe somebody wants to loan them or buy them. It's pretty likely. The plan is in the end we have a squad that is big enough to cope with the intensity of all the tournaments.
"The first thing we have to do now, not just all the transfers, is to prepare for the Premier League and the Champions League qualifier. That's my main target. Everything else is prepared. We know all about the players.
"The more important thing now is to get the players here now fit for the first games. That decides a lot and I really want to use a nice base."
Liverpool are in Hong Kong for their preseason tour and will play Crystal Palace in a friendly on Wednesday.