It was Jean Paul Sartre who once said, ‘In football everything is complicated by the presence of the other team’. Having witnessed what the opposing Jaaskelainen succumbed to in the twelfth minute, the validity of such quote gets well defied. A run of the mill shot by Steven Gerrard looked to be trickling harmlessly away, but a dive by the former helped the ball into the net. For a change, Lady Luck decided to court Liverpool. It was only in such a moment that such lady was apparent though, as from then on Liverpool just went on their job at the Reebok Stadium and got what they wanted, in the process getting three goals and the equivalent number of points.

There was no need of heroics, no need of a particular man to stand up above the others and take the issues single handedly. The collective effort of the eleven men in red was too much for the lowly Bolton and made a mockery of the hoodoo the Reebok Stadium supposedly holds for Liverpool. Still there was the usual man of the match, and in my eyes it goes to Ryan Babel, who decided to hug the left touchline and at the same time abandon it to cut off towards the thick of the action and test the red faced Jaaskelainen. Babel though was most of the time marginally less luckier than Gerrard as after defying the credibility of Sartre’s quote he took it up to himself to repay the Frenchman back. Still he could do nothing when on the hour mark the Dutchman got his just reward for his afternoon’s work as his shot got past him and into the net.

And then it was Aurelio’s turn to get on the score-sheet. For the first time ever. It was a sweet left volley that arched its way through the crowd. He has been close before, usually from dead ball situations. This time his instincts reaped him more dividends than his thoughts. He is Brazilian, but at times he looks more Norwegian. At the moment, credit where it is, his performances are enough to get the nod ahead of the other Norwegian Riise.

The clean sheet was later blotched. It only helped to enrage the dependent Reina for a moment though as the three points were already safe in the bag, and another away win was recorded. The quest of getting three points for the consolation of the fourth place continues on Wednesday against West Ham at Anfield. Another effective performance should straighten Sartre’s complicated matters on offer by the bubbly Hammers.