FA Premiership/Wigan Athletic 0 Liverpool 1: As much as it was possible to admire just about everything Steven Gerrard attempted against Wigan Athletic, even if hardly anything quite came off as he would have wished, the overriding feeling was one of watching an increasingly unfulfilled player.

The winning of the European Cup persuaded him to stay at Anfield, but since then the progress of the squad under Rafael Benitez has slowed to a snail's pace, with the return of Robbie Fowler a potentially alarming retrograde step for management and club alike.

If Liverpool were to miss out on all but requalification for Europe, which is de rigueur anyway, then once the World Cup is over, no matter how England fare, Gerrard will surely once more turn his thoughts to joining Real Madrid, Barcelona or any other leading team if he is not to simply retread old ground.

The euphoria of the victory over Milan may have duped him into believing Liverpool were close to strutting the domestic pen as top cockerel, but now reality has impinged.

Liverpool always had too much vigour and pace for Wigan to hope of anything more than a point in front of their largest ever crowd at the JJB, although they gave the Reds' defence a number of queasy moments at the beginning of the second half after Paul Jewell, bereft of anybody who might be considered a striker, had urged his already leg-weary players, and notably Gary Teale, to run wide and hard.

Teale, a key player in Wigan's promotion, is a shade short of both pace and control at this higher level, although he cannot be faulted for effort. With Matt Jackson in support, he forced two corners that saw Arjan De Zeeuw twice get in unchallenged headers. The first lacked sufficient power, but the defender was enormously frustrated not to get the necessary accuracy on the second as its velocity had Jerzy Dudek totally beaten.

Dudek had one of his better matches, reacting particularly alertly when Sami Hyypia came perilously close to diverting Jackson's cross into his own net. Dudek was down in an instant, which is much more than could be said for Mike Pollitt, who made a dog's dinner of a mishit shot by Hyypia for the goal.

Jewell is immensely proud of the startling progress of his team. "We had our best team out at Anfield and were blown away but this time we pushed them all the way."

Despite Wigan raising the tempo in the second half Liverpool's key players, including Gerrard, always appeared to be pacing themselves with an eye to the greater exertions to come.

Benitez and his backroom staff make the match-to-match assessments and rotate accordingly, though the lack of goals remains a consistent problem which Fowler is surely not about to solve.

"Maybe he will not be ready this season," said Benitez cautiously.

"He will need time."