Charlton went the way of Manchester City, West Brom and Norwich - mediocre teams eventually dealt with relatively easily by a team still groping to find its identity under new management. On the plus side, two impressive goals and some impressive football from midfield. On the minus, the current strike force looks decidedly underwhelming. Whatever the future holds under Benítez, the process of getting there could be slow and laborious.
The opening 20 minutes offered a glimpse of why Anfield optimists are so enthusiastic about Benítez, although the manner in which they failed to convert some precise, flowing attacking football into a goal did little to enhance the reputation of the Milan Baros-Djibril Cissé partnership.
The two strikers have had to deal with the aftermath of Michael Owen's departure and criticism about their level of performance is growing, along with a belief that they cannot function as a pair, as a combined return of five goals from nine league games suggests.
Cissé, it has to be said, was unfortunate not to score with his first noteworthy chance, meeting a short free-kick and striking the foot of Dean Kiely's left-hand post with a venomous 20-yard strike.
If that was unfortunate, the quality of Baros's finishing was simply poor. A minute after Cissé's narrow miss, Baros met a strong header from Djimi Traoré with a header of his own that flew woefully off target. Shortly afterwards, Luis García's right-wing cross again found the head of Baros, unmarked and all of six yards from goal, who placed a disappointing effort directly into Kiely's body.
Indeed, Luis García had looked Liverpool's best hope of creating, or even himself scoring, a goal. After five minutes, Luis García's poor pass was played directly back to him by Jonathan Fortune and the Spaniard produced a first-time volley from the edge of the area that Kiely did well to turn around his post.
Then a Luis García corner found the towering jump of the unmarked Sami Hyypia, whose close-range downwards effort was powerful, but couldn't beat a covering defender on the line.
Charlton had weathered the Liverpool storm, although a rare slip by Danny Murphy allowed Cissé to break for goal and find Baros with a pass that the Czech blazed over hopelessly.
Cissé, for all his apparent faults, is blessed with one undeniable gift, however, that of raw pace, a quality that Benítez has exposed in recent games by pushing out the Frenchmen into a wide right position as the game progresses. One devastating run late in the first half showcased his speed and his cross almost played in Luis García.
When Cissé next emerged in that position, he initiated the move that finally brought Liverpool a goal. His cross was headed powerfully by Luis García, whose effort struck Kevin Lisbie and flew out of the area, from where Riise's tremendous first-time strike offered Kiely no chance.
Liverpool's second goal involved an even more impressive feat of marksmanship, the industrious Luis García collecting a neat pass from Xabi Alonso and unleashing a fabulous strike from 25 yards.