They still required a helping hand from Liverpool in creating the opening, Dirk Kuyt catching his own defence off-guard by playing a pass straight to the feet of Emmerson Boyce on the right flank, who instantly crossed into the centre where Rodallega, having ghosted in front of Javier Mascherano, prodded in past Pepe Reina.

The manner of the goal was perhaps no surprise, given the number of times Liverpool coughed up possession during the first half.

Up until that point, the most intriguing aspect of a chronic match was that Wigan’s former Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland had somehow managed to avoid injury.

To be fair, the visitors did have a few openings.

After a deceiving bright start, a Gerrard corner was cleared by Marcelo Moreno to Maxi Rodriguez, and the Argentine headed back to the far post where Torres struck the outside of the woodwork from six yards.

And on 27 minutes, a rare incisive move saw Yossi Benayoun fed by Kuyt, dance around Maynor Figueroa but elect to cut the ball back instead of shooting, Gerrard rushed into an eventually harmless effort.

But too often their movement was non-existent, epitomised by one moment when Gerrard, accepting possession near the halfway line, looked up and flailed his arms in frustration at finding precisely no Liverpool players making any runs whatsoever.

Matters did improve marginally after falling behind. Torres headed over a good Rodriguez cross and, shortly after the break, fired wastefully over from a decent position after being found by the same player.

But only the alertness of Sotirios Kyrgiakos, back after serving his domestic three-match suspension, prevented Wigan scoring a ridiculous second on 59 minutes.

In defending a long ball, Jamie Carragher took command of the situation ahead of Reina but smacked his clearance at Moreno, Kyrgiakos racing back to head clear off the line.

With Liverpool pressing forward and the home team dangerous on the counter-attack, the game almost became mildly entertaining.

But despite the encouragement of Wigan’s inability to shut up shop, Benitez’s side struggled to test Kirkland.

And Wigan almost snatched a second on 73 minutes when Reina did enough to divert an N’Zogbia cross away from goal and a sliding Paul Scharner couldn’t quite divert the ball in at the far post.

Moments later, Kuyt nodded down a fine Emiliano Insua cross but the volley from Torres dropped the wrong side of the post for Liverpool.

And while Alberto Aquilani and Ryan Babel were brought on to fleetingly raise hopes of an equaliser, Wigan always looked the more likely to extend their lead.

Any more of this and it’s not a new pitch that Liverpool will require.