Brendan Rodgers intends to give youth a chance in this season's Europa League.
The boss has brought a 19-strong squad to Edinburgh for our play-off first leg with Hearts, with several of the younger players who impressed during the North America tour joining the party alongside more established names.
One youngster who will be hoping to feature in the absence through injury of left-back Jose Enrique is 18-year-old Jack Robinson.
"It's a chance for me to see the young players," Rodgers told a press conference at Tynecastle.
"Raheem Sterling has come in and showed up very, very well over the course of pre-season. Jack has obviously been limited with the game time he's been able to get, but this is a chance.
"We want to do well, but this competition is also a great opportunity for me to see the young players, mixed in with some of the experienced players.
"It's a young group but I've got some strong, experienced players, international captains, Champions League winners - it's still a strong enough team."
The Reds trained in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening without Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Glen Johnson and Martin Skrtel.
"We've got a very small squad so I've got to try and protect some of the players," added Rodgers.
"They played over half an hour with 10 men on Saturday and they've got a massive game at the weekend, but I trust my players, and whatever team we put out will always be to win the game.
"Our main objective is the league, there's no question about that. But certainly when you work at Liverpool, both as a player and a manager, every game is important.
"We want to do well. The objective over the next two games is to get through into the group stages."
While Enrique has not travelled, the boss is hoping he will be available for Sunday, when champions Manchester City visit Anfield.
"He had a couple of scans which didn't show a great deal but he's still in pain," said Rodgers. "The last day or two he has improved dramatically. Obviously not enough to be involved on Thursday night, but we're hoping that by the weekend he'll be fit and available."
Hearts lost 5-0 at home to Tottenham in the Europa League last season, but Rodgers believes they will have learned a tough lesson.
"Hearts will be better for that experience," he said. "Tynecastle is a wonderful, tight little ground and the supporters will be right behind their team.
"They have a couple of young wingers. One of them I watched last year when I was at Swansea. I know they're talented. John Sutton I've seen since he was a young player at Tottenham. He's come through and made a good career for himself.
"It's important for us to control and dominate the ball and to keep the crowd quiet.
"It's something I've noticed in my short time here: the players are allergic to complacency. The focus every day, the concentration is very good."
The Reds opened their Barclays Premier League campaign with a 3-0 defeat to West Brom on Saturday.
Asked about the reaction he had seen from his players since, Rodgers said: "We were obviously disappointed at the time, but I said to them in the reflection on Monday that we could live that day a thousand times over and it probably would never be worse than what it was. Everything went against us, and we actually played really well in the first half. The game could have been over.
"Then Zoltan Gera scored his first goal in two years with a wonderful strike.
"The minute we went down to 10 men we found it very difficult, we were chasing the game and our organisation wasn't as good as it will be in the coming months.
"But they are a very honest group. They don't need telling.
"I learnt things in the game that were important."
