Andoni Iraola says he trusts his Liverpool players to step up in the absence of Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak against Manchester City on Sunday.
The Reds boss also explained how he plans to make his defensively solid side more adventurous in attack after analysing their performances during the international break.
Isak leads Liverpool’s scoring charts with four goals, all assisted by Gakpo, who has netted twice himself.
However, both forwards are set to miss Sunday’s clash at Anfield through injury.
Gakpo sustained an ankle injury during the Netherlands’ 2-1 win over Serbia, while Isak picked up a thigh problem after scoring for Sweden against Romania.
Iraola admitted the setbacks were far from ideal but challenged the rest of his squad to deliver against Enzo Maresca’s unbeaten league leaders.
“It’s definitely not something I wanted from this international break but we can’t control it,” Iraola said. “It is what it is. We can’t change it so we have to adapt.
“It’s a bad thing for us, definitely, because both of them have been prolific forwards at the start of the season but the good thing when you coach Liverpool is you still have very good players available.
“I trust the players we have ready to go. It’s also a good moment for those players to step up, to add good numbers and good performances while we recover Cody and Alex.”
Asked for his assessment of the Reds’ games so far this term during the international break, Iraola, whose side kept three successive clean sheets for the first time in two years before break, added: “They’ve been different games.
“Probably the first games we played were a little bit more open. I think we improved that side and controlled the other games better.
“Defensively we have been much better but it has taken a little bit from our offensive side, it has taken a little bit of our arrivals, the volume of them offensively.
“Now is the moment when you think: ‘OK, let’s keep this defensive solidity, stay comfortable defending and not giving a lot of chances away’.
“But it’s difficult. Ronald Araujo is the clearest example. You change him in and probably you are more solid at the back but you lose a bit of threat going forward.
“We want to balance it a little bit, use all of the squad and take the right decisions for games that are going to be very different from one to the other.”
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