Despite the win here, the need for Liverpool to buy rather than sell in January is apparent. Werner robustly confirmed Liverpool's plans.
"Our intention is to strengthen but actions will speak louder than words," he said. "We are playing better and better each week. Obviously, we have made some mistakes in the past but our intention is to deliver, strengthen the squad and move forward.
"We know that January is a challenging time and I don't want to say we've got x or y but, hopefully, the fans will be pleased with what we do accomplish."
As a Los Angeles television and film producer, Werner can watch Suárez and appreciate the box-office appeal of a charismatic leading man. He must be tempted to ask the club's marketing department to add a 'double O' in front of Suárez's No 7. The Uruguayan is the man with the golden touch, granted a licence to thrill, consistently intervening to prevent Liverpool's sky falling in.
Suárez's double, Raheem Sterling's excellent second half and Jose Enrique's reinvention as a goalscoring left winger extended an unbeaten streak in the league to seven. Sterling, who created two of the goals, also has admirers hoping to demolish Liverpool's reputation as a club who can fulfil the ambitions of their best players. "They would be wasting his time," was Brendan Rodgers' response to his suitors.
"Raheem is in a real good place here. He will tie down himself to a new contract because he wants to be here and he can be a great here. Why would you want to leave one of the biggest clubs in world football? It's a no brainer."
It was against Wigan last season Sterling made his debut, a late substitute in a defeat that assisted Kenny Dalglish's demise and earned Roberto Martínez a Liverpool job interview.
"I can see huge, huge progress," said Martínez. "When we saw him that day a year ago, you could see the real potential. You can see he's a very direct, talented player and he's going to have a very bright future."
Wigan fancied their chances of a repeat victory at half-time, but Jean Beausejour's poor pass enabled Sterling to feed Suárez on 47 minutes and it could have been a rout afterwards.
Martinez's mood darkened when he discovered Ben Watson suffered a broken leg after colliding with Sterling in the first half. There was no blame attached to the Liverpool youngster who later apologised.
The Wigan manager did imply there was Suarez villainy in an ugly challenge on David Jones. There was no evidence of intent, however.
It all amounted to a comfortable home victory, Werner able to return to the United States to prepare for the next, inevitable bout of fire-fighting when the transfer window opens.
No comments:
Post a Comment