A below-par Liverpool had to settle for only a point from last night's visit to Wigan as Roberto Martinez's men claimed a fully deserved 1-1 draw. Torres scored his fifth goal of the season to set us off to the perfect start, however the home side controlled proceedings for the rest of the game and grabbed an equaliser through Rodallega on 52 minutes.
Liverpool showed little in attack from then on as Wigan looked the most likely to score a late winner. In the end Hodgson's side will be delighted to escape with a draw as we reverted to the type of form experienced before our recent upturn.
Roy Hodgson decided to stick with the eleven that started against Chelsea and at first this appeared to have been a wise move as Liverpool raced out of the traps to dominate the opening 15 minutes.
Only two minutes into the game Lucas Leiva, who was lauded for his inspirational performance on Sunday, showed a glimpse of what he can do in attack as the Brazilian smashed a stunning strike goalwards after Maxi had laid the ball off for him. The Wigan keeper had to be on top form as he expertly tipped Lucas' ferocious effort over the cross bar.
Liverpool's threatening football paid dividends after seven minutes when Gerrard's raking ball from deep split the opposition defence wide open, allowing Torres to speed through and poke the ball beyond Al Habsi.
It was a terrific pass from the skipper and a composed finish from the Spaniard as the dynamic duo continue to develop their blossoming partnership that has helped haul the Merseysiders out of the bottom three and back into contention for the Champions League places.
The instrumental Gerrard combined with Kuyt five minutes later to nearly double our lead as he delightfully dinked the ball over a Wigan defender to the Dutchman. Kuyt then neatly headed the ball back into the path of the captain, who volleyed just over the bar from 12 yards out.
From then on though Liverpool recoiled into their defensive shell as Wigan posed more of a threat to our frail backline and began to play some decent forward thinking football.
N'Zogbia charged forward and flashed the ball frighteningly across the six-yard box on 25 minutes before Wigan had the ball in the back of the net minutes past the half hour mark. An incredibly sloppy pass from Lucas gifted possession to N'Zogbia, who surged forward, played a one-two with Rodallega and eventually found the net.
Liverpool had a lucky escape though as Rodallega was correctly flagged offside. The away side failed to heed that warning sign though as Rodallega went close once again shortly before half time when the Columbian striker's shot hit Carragher's hands in the penalty area.
It was deemed to be ball-to-hand by referee Peter Walton, but that didn't deter the home side as Rodallega was only inches away from tapping home Stam's excellent cross a few moments later.
That was the last chance of the first 45 minutes and Liverpool were relieved to enter the interval with their lead still intact because, although the early signs were promising, they were also misleading as Wigan were by far the better side for the rest of the half.
Wigan extended their good spell into the second half while Liverpool's lethargy showed no signs of ending. With six minutes of the half played the hosts finally claimed the equaliser that most spectators expected to happen far earlier. Pepe Reina could only palm Stam's cross into the path of Hugo Rodallega, who sidefooted the ball home for the fourth time this season.
It was a dreadful start to the half for Liverpool because not only had Wigan drew level, Raul Meireles also had to be replaced by Jonjo Shelvey after the £11 million summer signing had picked up an injury.
The situation didn't improve either when Reina had to shepherd Rodallega away from goal as he was poised to double his tally for the evening. Diame then cut inside and tested Reina with a well-struck 25-yard shot before Maynor Figueroa, who was strongly linked with Liverpool throughout the summer, drilled the ball just past the upright.
The game appeared to be petering out into a bore draw but fortunately it livened up slightly with time running out as both sides made tentative attempts to steal all three points.
With 18 minutes remaining Shelvey, Kuyt and Kelly combined well down the right before Stam headed Kelly's cross behind under pressure from Maxi Rodriguez. From the resulting corner Kuyt managed to find the net after Shelvey's deflected shot fell perfectly for the 30-year old however he was clearly offside and the goal was chalked off.
It was a case of hearts in mouths for Liverpool two minutes later when Stam's cross perilously flashed across the goalmouth. Thankfully nobody was there and Kelly eventually cleared.
Steven Gerrard had a great chance to snatch a winner after 80 minutes when he was played through one-on-one with the keeper by Maxi. Naively Gerrard decided to strike the ball first time when he could have easily took his time and approached the goal calmly before slotting home. Instead, his shot struck the underside of the bar and bounced away to safety.
N'Zogbia's effort was comfortably held by Reina before the former Newcastle player shot high and wide as both sides were forced to settle for a single point when Liverpool would have been expecting to collect all three and Wigan must have felt they deserved more from a game they clearly controlled from 15 minutes onwards.
This result was disappointing because we were expecting so much more after such a positive performance and result against Chelsea only four days ago. It is easy for the players to be motivated for a massive home match, however greater desire is needed to win at Wigan on a wet Wednesday evening.
Frustratingly that desire was lacking as Liverpool's attacking purpose faded worryingly quickly following Torres' goal. Not only did we fail to seriously test the weak Wigan defence for any sort of sustained spell, we also looked vulnerable at the back as the back four failed to deal with several dangerous crosses that rolled across our six-yard box.
Liverpool now travel to the Potteries to play Pulis' Stoke City on Saturday teatime, and must be looking to take all three points from the Britannia Stadium if we are to achieve the realistic target of four points from six. Ordinarily this game is easier to take points from though because Stoke are notoriously difficult to beat at home.
They will certainly pose a real test for Hodgson's men, however with the Reds a single point off fifth position a win could propel us even further up the League table. Conversely, we're only four points above the relegation zone and another poor performance could see us scrapping in the lower reaches of the table yet again.
It's really that precariously tight at the moment, and Liverpool will struggle to impose themselves on the League table unless our form quickly returns to the heady heights of that shown against Chelsea.
YNWA
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