Jurgen Klopp has warned Liverpool’s players not to undervalue the Carabao Cup.
Wednesday’s third round tie against Chelsea is expected to see the Reds make a host of changes with Simon Mignolet already confirmed as an early inclusion.
Both side are expected to prioritise this weekend’s clash at Stamford Bridge with the Reds potentially extending their two-point lead in the Premier League table.
But Klopp insists that whichever players are selected will not be allowed to take the cup competition for granted.
He said: “A lot of things when you come to a country and you have no clue about. One is them is that people judge cup competitions before you play them.
“When I came in, I think one of my first games was Bournemouth in the cup. Everybody here told me that you play the kids or whatever.
“You have a competitive game and you play the kids so it’s nice but you cannot play all of them so we have to adapt to that.
“I was never interested in that, to be honest, but we have a situation where we have plenty of games so we make the decision because of the situation – not of the competition.
“We always think about how the opponent will line up so that’s always something we will have in our mind. It’s never the competition that we say ‘it’s only the League Cup’ and the final is in March, at Wembley.
“I remember when we were there [in 2016], we wanted to win it. We were close but we didn’t. We will try again, but it’s not about judging the silverware which is more important.
“We cannot do it like that. What we have to do is be 100 per cent concentration, focus, rhythm, everything, and don’t think about where it leads to.
“If I see one player tomorrow goes into the game with the feeling that he thinks it’s ‘only’ the League Cup then he could have a real problem.
“But I know there will be no player. I don’t think so, the players don’t think so, tomorrow night’s a football game at a sold-out Anfield Road.
“We will be there with all we have. That’s all we are thinking about. If we go to the next round, then we play that game again with all we have.
“That’s the only way I know unfortunately.”