Sydney FC boss Ufuk Talay wants his fringe players to force him to drop them as the Sky Blues prepare for time with star recruit Douglas Costa and English import Joe Lolley on the sidelines.
Sydney are away to Brisbane Roar in the A-League Men (ALM) on Friday and Talay said neither Costa or Lolley would feature.
Brazilian international Costa did not play in Sydney's last-start ALM loss away to Auckland FC after picking up a hamstring issue during their Asian Champions League 2 trip to face Japanese side Sanfreece Hiroshima.
Lolley, meanwhile, limped out of the Auckland defeat with a groin injury.
Sydney are also set to be without talented midfielder Corey Hollman for up to six weeks after he rolled his ankle.
Talay hopes Lolley could be ready to play in next Thursday's return leg against Hiroshima or their Sunday-week ALM clash with Macarthur FC.
He was also confident that Costa's absence would similarly be a short-term problem.
"With Douglas we are taking it week by week," Talay said.
"There's a possibility he might be available for either game as well.
"Moving forward I think we are in a good place.
"The great thing is that they (Costa and Lolley) aren't going to be out for a long period of time."
Talay said he was unlikely to make major changes to his set-up with Max Burgess, Adrian Segecic and Jaiden Kucharski all waiting in the wings to take the spots left by Costa and Lolley.
"It's always an opportunity and I think I'm pretty fair with my players," Talay said.
"I think I was very consistent last season when they played well, they retained their position within the team.
"We reward the players for performing and doing well.
"You don't want injuries to happen, but when it does happen it opens up the door for players to come in and one of the players to come in and cement their spot."
