Jürgen Klopp called it an “explosion”, and the surest thing to say about the first monumental combustion of his Liverpool career – considering neither he nor Tony Pulis divulged the background details of Sunday’s outburst against West Bromwich Albion – is that it will not be the last. It would be hypocritical to suggest we are appalled at the prospect of more.

Klopp certainly crossed a line in goading the Albion bench following Divock Origi’s 96th-minute equaliser for Liverpool. Performing a passable impression of a gorilla beating its chest, the German coach confronted Pulis and West Brom’s backroom team in a frenzy that transferred to the Anfield crowd for the remaining minutes and fuelled Liverpool’s push for an unlikely winner. Having expressed bemusement at a lack of belief among the Anfield crowd against Crystal Palace only five weeks previously, that in itself was a small victory in Klopp’s eyes and reason for acclaiming the Kop with his players after Sunday’s final whistle.

Naturally, Anfield revelled in their conductor’s performance while rivals ridiculed the reaction to a 2-2 draw at home to a mid-table team. The positions may not have been so entrenched had the roles been reversed with Pulis in Klopp’s shoes. “It’s his dugout,” said the Albion manager when asked if he was offended by Klopp’s celebrations. Both managers refused to stoke the controversy in their post-match press conferences.

Klopp’s behaviour has been presented as a clever or calculated attempt to get Liverpool fans onside – again, according to partisan lines and overlooking the fact they were onside from day one – when instinctive, emotional reactions have always been part of his appeal. If it helps promote belief and a refusal to accept defeat, as Liverpool showed during in the final stages against Albion, then there is an added bonus from the manager’s perspective. Klopp’s animated character, along with his record and style of success, explains why Liverpool and the Premier League were so enthralled by his arrival a little over nine weeks ago. The only surprise that can genuinely be expressed about Sunday’s reaction is that it was a long time coming.

It is worth recalling Klopp’s quote to the German author and dramatist Moritz Rinke, given as part of an interview for Rinke’s book Reading The Game during Klopp’s final season at Borussia Dortmund. The most important thing in football, said the manager, is not trophies or medals but “the moment itself, the memory of being there at the game, that you were part of it. That’s what it’s all about! The experience!”

Anfield on Sunday was an experience, and mainly for the running feud between the respective managers rather than the Premier League fare on display.

This is not to excuse Klopp’s confrontation with his opposite number, even with animosity building between the Liverpool manager and Pulis long before Dejan Lovren was taken off with a knee injury inflicted by Craig Gardner. But it does explain the sight of Klopp joining hands with his Liverpool players and saluting the Kop for their support afterwards.

Klopp had little concern for the media’s coverage of Sunday’s spat and lost amid the refusal to shake hands with Pulis and co, until followed on to the pitch and pulled into a grip by Albion’s assistant head coach Mark O’Connor, was a more pressing issue for the Liverpool manager.

He touched upon it himself during the post-match fallout. “It was not easy to create chances,” he said. “They only play long balls and only want set plays.” Pulis is not the only Premier League manager to operate that way and, rather than bemoan or belittle an opponents’ style, Klopp needs to construct a defence able to withstand it.

Once the pulse had settled on Sunday – and that was done quickly in the case of the two managers – it was the failure of Liverpool’s defenders and goalkeeper to cope with Albion’s set pieces that cannot have been lost on Klopp. Along with Albion’s physicality and his differences of opinion with Pulis, it was Liverpool’s weaknesses that shaped their manager’s eruption.