| Liverpool | 3-0 | Wigan |
| Suarez 47, 58 | ||
| Enrique 65 |
Despite a rather painful first half this proved to be a surprisingly easy day at the office for the Reds.
In fact, this was exactly the kind of day Liverpool fans had been waiting for because what transpired was a comfortable home win without playing particularly well. Hopefully this will not be the last time we see this between now and May.
In a lethargic opening half an hour both sides failed to impress. There was no urgency to the Reds' game and the high pressing that we've come to expect simply wasn't there. A half-chance arrived in the 6th minute when Jose Enrique, playing in an advanced role on the left, dragged his shot wide from close range.
It was another interesting selection from Rodgers as he also opted to give Suso a more central role but unfortunately for the young Spaniard it wasn't his day. He was replaced by Jordan Henderson after just 37 minutes in a move which allowed Gerrard to play further forward. This was another example of Rodgers showing that if he sees something isn't working he's not afraid to make immediate changes.
A serious injury to Ben Watson meant a long delay in what was up to this point an extremely tedious game of football so the half-time whistle couldn't really have come soon enough for both sides.
Within minutes of the restart the Reds were ahead. Great work from Sterling down the right allowed Luis Suarez to bury the youngster's cutback first time past the helpless Al Habsi. It was a barely deserved lead although it now provided a springboard for the remainder of the half.
10 minutes later and it was two. Enrique cut in from the left and provided an inch perfect through ball for Suarez who finished expertly with the outside of his right foot. Both goals were finishes of the highest standard which just goes to show what a bit of confidence can do.
Wigan were dead and buried by now although in the first half they never looked like threatening either. I was surprised by how poor they were but I suppose it's far too early in the season for them to show any sort of form.
In the 64th minute Suarez stamped on David Jones which looked just about as blatant as you're ever likely to see. It wasn't spotted by the officials so it looks like the dippy Uruguayan has gotten away with it this time. Always one step away from disaster, is our Luis.
A third goal came just a minute after this incident as the excellent Sterling found some space in the box. His tame-ish shot was poorly dealt with by Al Habsi which gave Jose Enrique a simple tap in. While my opinion of Enrique hasn't changed it was great to see him following up on things in the box. He's still very much a temporary solution for us at the moment but he can at least be happy with the fact that he's become the 100th Liverpool player to score in the Premier League (please note that this statistic was brought to you by Paul McDonagh so may not be accurate).
The Reds were cruising for the last 20 minutes and while there were a couple of chances to increase the goal tally, most notably falling to Henderson and Johnson, a 3-0 win was still a nice return for the day's work.
Daniel Agger was substituted late on which leads me to believe that his groin problem is still an issue. Hopefully he'll be ok but with Lucas now back in training we could do without losing anyone else at this point.
It looked easy today but this has really only papered over our striking cracks. Luis Suarez has scored over a third of his side's goals so far this season and cannot be continually relied upon. Steven Gerrard was once again pretty anonymous today and without him popping up with the occasional goal the options are non-existent.
Hopefully today's game will be the shape of things to come with regards to winning while not playing great. We've earned a bit of luck at this stage so a few more wins like this one would be very welcome indeed.
Subs: Henderson for Suso (36), Carragher for Agger (82), Shelvey for Suarez (87)
Unused Subs: Jones, Coates, Sahin, Cole.
