Bramble Unlikely Hero as Liverpool Drift Further From Summit

Wigan had never scored in a league game against Liverpool until the unlikely unimposing figure of Titus Bramble stepped up to leave Liverpool 12 points behind Arsenal, heading into what looks like a bleak mid-winter for Liverpool.

The capital of culture was optimistic at the start of the season with the capture of the fantastic Fernando Torres, however their optimism is blowing as cold as the Siberian winter heading over to the British shores following another disappointing draw at the hands of a relegation-battling side.

Steve Bruce left Anfield in September with a point and he set his stall out again with the premise of leaving once again in the black. The tenacious Michael Brown was preferred to Jason Koumas in the middle—it set up what looked to be, in Mourinho's words, "parking a bus."

Liverpool started with a three-pronged attack, Torres once again favoured upfront with Kewell and Pennant providing the necessary width. Torres, ever the finisher, began brightly firing past Kirkland only to be judged marginally offside and, following this, glanced a header following an Alonso free kick over the bar.

Torres once again burst into life having a cheeky one-two with Mascherano, however he produced a tame shot that didn't trouble Kirkland and following this became the provider, as he slid Gerrard through only to produce a weak shot from the Liverpool captain.

The pressure intensified after the halftime break with Wigan only able to produce a 25-yard effort from Michael Brown, and inevitably the first goal came via an unlikely source. Steve Finnan darted forward and interlinking with Gerrard drove into the box and passed it to Torres who neatly struck the ball into the net.

Within five minutes Bramble became Wigan's hero, firstly following a powerful Gerrard free kick, which was spilled by the Wigan goalkeeper, denied Mascherano an almost certain goal. Following a looping ball headed on by Heskey, Gerrard miscued his clearance and almost in an instant from the edge of Liverpool's box Bramble drove a shot into the back of Liverpool's net.

Benitez's rotational tactics have been questioned many a time and one must look to whether swapping Kewell and Pennant made even the slightest bit of difference. In September against Steve Bruce's Birmingham he left Torres on the bench and in an effort to make up for his mistake he has made Torres a permanent fixture. Torres' 16 goals this season has made Torres Benitez's best buy of his Liverpool tenure.

Liverpool could have made it 10 points out of 12 over the Christmas period, but instead they face a daunting task of recuperating 12 points to catch up with leaders Arsenal and even the more daunting reality of sitting in fifth position with only a game in hand on the teams around them.

But with Steve Finnan being an unlikely provider for the first goal, Benitez must look to try and gel the team rather than make further acquisitions in the January transfer window.

He has the squad but he doesn't have "the team."