Liverpool needed a good performance against Spurs. Recent results rendered the game competitively irrelevant, but it was important to banish the ill-feeling that had gathered around the club.

There was a sense that Jürgen Klopp's farewell was turning sour. That was underlined by the unpleasant scenes with Mohamed Salah on the touchline against West Ham, when the two Liverpool icons could be seen at loggerheads on the sidelines.

That argument actually occurred moments before West Ham equalized, downing any last Liverpool title hopes. But Roy Keane has suggested that the bad run of results exacerbated the issue between Salah and Klopp.

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“Obviously then I think when you have this spat with your manager and the star man [Salah], it doesn’t help when the results aren’t going your way," said Keane on Sky Sports. He proceeded to make a comparison with Manchester City forward Erling Haaland, suggesting Liverpool and Salah were treated differently with the reaction they received.

“You saw Haaland yesterday [against Wolves] being brought off, not too happy, behaving like a spoilt brat, but because they win the game, he scores goals, it’s almost forgotten about. I think because results haven’t been going Liverpool’s way, that’s almost highlighted.”

The Sky Sports panel then quizzed Keane over whether Haaland was allowed to be a "spoiled brat" if he was scoring four goals, as he did against Wolves. The former Manchester United midfielder bluntly responded with "no, not really", leading to an awkward silence in the studio — broken by the laughter of former Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.

But while Keane refused to excuse Haaland's behavior, he acknowledged that run-ins with the manager look worse amid difficult periods for the team. While Manchester City looks as though it is cruising to another title via another perfect finish, Liverpool's chances are in tatters — rightly or wrongly, Salah and Klopp's argument will be the abiding image of that collapse.

Liverpool.com says: Keane has a point. Liverpool has lifted the mood around the club with its excellent performance against Spurs, with Salah at the heart of it, and the tensions with Klopp can now be forgotten.

But amid the desperately disappointing run of results that culminated in the West Ham draw, the spat with the manager came to symbolize how everything was going wrong. It was a visual representation of Klopp's farewell turning ugly. Haaland, storming off after scoring four, was little more than a side-note in Manchester City's relentless march.