Motherwell boss Graham Alexander has warned his players that it will be a squad game this season and says he will always need more than 11 to win a game.
Alexander says his players need to take it in their stride if they're subbed off in a game, or brought off the bench, and that nobody is guaranteed to play every game.
The Fir Park gaffer hopes to be able to add midfielder Mark O'Hara and defender/midfielder Liam Grimshaw to his squad for today's Premier Sports Cup second round clash at Dundee.
But the focus will be on making sure they get through to the last-eight, regardless of how many players are needed to do so.
He said: "Tony Watt and Stevie Lawless came off the bench [last week at St Johnstone] and we've got Justin Amaluzor who scored in the last cup game.
"It's important for us as a team, that we can't rely on 11 players to win us games.
"I believe in the squad, I believe in the quality of our squad. I see it based on merit when the players are playing well, and sometimes it just doesn't happen for you, certainly in the forward areas.
"Having the opportunity and the options to bring on two quality players like we did last week to help us score the goal, it strengthens our case to win games - as a manager, I want those options.
"I explained to the players before the season started that I see value in all of them and the squad, and no-one is guaranteed to play every single game.
"It will be picked on merit and performances, and we're always going to need more than 11 players to win any game of football. It's very rare now that no substitutions are made in a game of football, if it happens at all.
"The players need to have that humility that we'll be taking players off or bringing players on, to win a game of football, and we have more than 11 good players."
Alexander added: "For me, as the manager, I think it's a great position to be in, knowing I have different options to try and win a game of football.
"You never really know how a team is going to set up exactly and things always change in the course of a game anyway, depending on how the game's going and what the score is, so those options are good for us.
"I'm really confident in the strength of our squad at the moment. I still think we need to improve it, if we can, but we've certainly got enough at the moment to win games of football."
On adding at least to his bench for the trip to Tayside with O'Hara and Grimshaw, Alexander said: "Mark has been training with us for two weeks now, so he's getting up to speed with what we want.
"Unfortunately he picked up a hamstring injury right at the start, in the first pre-season game, and we've got Liam Grimshaw, who is picking up the pace of his training as well, which is great, and just strengthens our squad.
"As I look to pick the team, I have options in most positions, and everyone's competing very well, which is great.
"I can see that in the training, I can see how hard everyone's working to put themselves forward to be in that team.
"Having people like Mark and Liam Grimshaw back, and putting pressure on players who are already in the team is a great position for me to be in.
"We pushed them during the week, we've tried to stretch them as long as we can, so they could be additions into the squad, especially because there are two extra players because of the cup competition, so they might make the squad.
"We'll assess how they are, we'll speak to them as individuals to see how they feel, and if they feel confident about that, and we feel confident we'll add them to the squad."
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