Gerrard takes blame for Wigan draw

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has insisted he was responsible for the goal that allowed Wigan to equalise in their 1-1 Premier League draw at the DW Stadium on Wednesday.

The England midfielder, who throughout his Anfield career has repeatedly rescued the team from the brink of defeat, gave the ball away prior to Colombia international Hugo Rodallega’s equaliser early in the second half.

Rodallega’s goal cancelled out Fernando Torres’s seventh-minute opener for the visitors.

Gerrard might still have won the match for the Reds late on but his shot came back off the crossbar with Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi beaten.

“I tried to play a one-two that, if it had come off, could have been a good move,” Gerrard told Thursday’s edition of the Liverpool Echo about the build-up to Rodallega’s leveller.

“You don’t expect it to lead to a goal but, when it does, you have to take responsibility,” he added.

“Then, when I went through on goal, I maybe struck my shot too well but I should have scored — I expected to. As we haven’t taken maximum points, maybe people should point a finger at me.”

Gerrard said the strain of beating league leaders Chelsea in their previous fixture could have caught up with Liverpool against Wigan.

“Maybe our performance suffered after the energy and intensity we put into beating Chelsea,” he said.

“You can often find that happening after you play a game 72 hours after a big fixture.”

But, with Liverpool now four games unbeaten after a dreadful start and in ninth place, Gerrard was in confident mood ahead of Saturday’s match against Stoke City.

“After a fantastic win over Chelsea and having gone 1-0 up, of course we understand why people will be slightly disappointed.

“But we have kept our unbeaten run going, Fernando has got another goal and there are other positives. I’m happy with my form.

“It’s going to be tough at Stoke but we will have to stand up and fight, stick together and if we get a win, that would be a superb result. We will be ready for it.”