With Spanish international Xabi Alonso joining Anfield for £10 million there is one Liverpool player who should be looking over his shoulder now. But Didi Hamann is positively relishing the challenge of some serious competition, and believes that he has not had enough of a challenge in the past few seasons.

"The manager has said he wanted a few more options so it was inevitable we'd be buying more players. All I can do is play well whenever I'm selected. That's all I've ever tried to do. We all understand the team's interests must always come first.

"The manager knows different players will bring different qualities to the team and that's fine by me. That kind of competition is more likely to bring the best out of me.

"To be honest, I think we've probably lacked that bit of competition for places over the last few years. A lot of us have played pretty much in every game throughout the season.

"I think it's been shown that the top clubs have many players who can play in the same position because then when someone is injured, there is someone else who can fill their role. That's what it's all about at the top of European football."

Hamann also commented on the weekend's game against Man City: "I knew we weren't the best coming from behind over the last few years but it's a big surprise that it's been five years since we did it at Anfield.

"We flew out of the traps in the second half and played really good football. I think we could have had a few more goals.

"The gaffer made a few changes and made the point at half-time they'd only had one shot and it was an unfair score-line. He told us a couple of things to work on and we turned it around.

"I thought we had a better flow to the game and everyone played better in the second half."

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