Having played with such determination and passion in his absence, Steven Gerrard's return should have boosted Liverpool to build on last week's win over Tottenham. Instead, it had the opposite effect. Whatever momentum had been built was lost and the rhtym of the side thrown off key. That is not to say that the team no longer needs Gerrard but, rather, that his inclusion from the first minute when he was coming back from an injury is simply sending out the (wrong) message that the team is reliant exclusively on him to do well. That is what they tried to do yesterday - witness him taking all free-kicks and almost all corners - despite the fact that nothing was coming off for him.

More than that, this insistence in playing Gerrard so high up the pitch is mystifying. The system worked last year when there was a fully fit Fernando Torres alongside him and Xabi Alonso pulling the strings behind them. That isn't the case this season but still the same tactic is adopted.

Talking of mystifying, the fact that only one player was taken off in a match where Liverpool were playing so poorly cannot be explained. Surely it was worth risking taking either Lucas or Mascherano off in order to put in Aquilani? Or Maxi to replace him with Degen?

For some reason, Benitez saw it differently and the result is another two dropped points. After the hope that came out of last week's win, it is back in the depression zone this time round. With games running out, Liverpool finishing in the top four is looking increasingly unlikely, no matter what guarantees are given.

Good Game
Constantly booed by the Wolves fans, Pepe Reina had his usual good game. He didn't have to make any major saves but he did have to be well placed in order to thwart a couple of half-chances Wolves had.

Two of the only players who kept up last week's level were Martin Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos. They might not be the finest of defenders with the ball at their feet but they make sure that nothing gets through them which, at the end of the day, is the most important thing. Indeed, the Greek defender was - for the second week running - my man of the match.

Emiliano Insua wasn't exceptional by any stretch of the imagination but he was always alert to possible dangers and was in the right place to clear serious danger on a number of occasions.

Taking off Albert Riera was a surprise choice because up till that point the Spaniard had been one of the few giving Wolves at least some problems with his crossing and his shooting. Unless he was injured, he should have stayed on the pitch.

Forced to work on scraps, Dirk Kuyt did his best to get something going but far too often he looked ahead of him to make a pass or cross only to find that no one had made the run.

Bad Game
Played at right-back, a position he clearly doesn't like, Jamie Carragher struggled especially as he had to deal with a player who was way faster than him. He did his best as always but ultimately had a poor game - one where he offered Liverpool nothing going forward - and whatever reason Benitez had for sticking with him for ninety minutes, it plainly didn't work out.

Javier Mascherano is a fantastic player but it is difficult to imagine why he stayed on for all the game, and not only for tactical purposes: his passing was attrocious. Similarly, this wasn't that bad a game for Lucas Leiva only that Liverpool needed at least one of their central midfielders to create something, to get hold of the game and start dictating the pace.

Apparently not fit enough to play anything more than a few minutes the week before, Maxi Rodrigues suddenly got his first start and saw the game till the end. Unfortunately, he showed little to justify that faith and, if anything, the feeling is that he was a step backwards from Philip Degen.

Nothing he tried on the night seemed to come off for Steven Gerrard. Indeed, he seemed to blunt Liverpool's attacking movements. Even worse was his corner or free-kicks that never got to a red shirt. A night to forget for him.

Substitutes
Benitez opted for just one change and in all fairness David N'Gog did add something else to the Liverpool game with his pace and work rate even though he, like Kuyt before him,only had scraps too feed on.