It is important, during contract negotiations, to appear calm and in control. Frivolity and sentimentality tend to undermine a manager’s bargaining position. And so, when Rafael BenÍtez grinned and waved at the West Bromwich Albion supporters who had chanted for him to do so, there were gasps of astonishment. Has the Liverpool manager gone soft?

Of course not. BenÍtez, who is in discussion with George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, the Liverpool owners, over his contract extension, remains as rational and analytical as ever. Robbie Keane scored his first league goals for the club and was all set to seal a hat-trick at the Kop end – where he has yet to score – but his manager substituted him.

Admittedly, few in the ground really cared. Keane was replaced by Fernando Torres, who has become such a darling of Anfield that most fans would accept happily a restricted view of the penalty area if it meant they could see the Spain striker brush his hair away from his eyes while watching from the dugout.

But Keane looked the part. He gobbled up the fine passes fed into his path for both goals. The first was made by Steven Gerrard, the second by Fábio Aurélio and on both occasions Keane’s composure made Scott Carson, in the West Brom goal, seem horribly flustered.

BenÍtez said that he had spoken to Keane about the frequency with which he is being substituted and told the Ireland forward that he takes him off because the game usually needs a different kind of attacker at some juncture in the second half.

“I’m sure he was thinking, ‘Why me? Leave me on the pitch’, but I wanted to use the pace of Torres,” BenÍtez said. “I didn’t get to speak to him after the game, apart from saying ‘Congratulations’ when he came off, because he was getting his man-of-the-match award.

“You can have sentiment as a manager sometimes but at 2-0 you have to be careful because one goal for them and it becomes very nervous at the end. We needed to score the third goal. I thought Torres could be a big problem for them with his pace because they were playing high.

“I told Robbie that he was doing a good job and the most important thing was that he has been working hard for the team. You have to support the player.”

Keane accepts his manager’s philosophy. “People might make a big deal about me being substituted but it’s not about me,” he said. “I’m happy to get the two goals and I’m always happy to get more goals, but as long as I’m part of a winning team then I will be happy.” BenÍtez said that West Brom’s tactics suited Liverpool. Tony Mowbray, the visiting team’s manager, said that he did not have players cut out for a purely defensive game plan. He is even less inclined to try to frustrate the bigger clubs when they visit The Hawthorns.

“We’ve got to have a go against Chelsea [on Saturday]. It will be the first time we have played a team from the ‘big four’ at home and we will be very positive,” Mowbray said. “We learn our lessons and live to fight another day. I hope my players will learn from every game. The plan is to stay up this year and we will try to recruit players to help the ones we have – but I won’t be buying £20 million players, unfortunately. I think we are better than most teams in this division at keeping the ball, but the game is about scoring goals.”

Liverpool (4-4-2): J M Reina 6 Á Arbeloa 7 J Carragher 7 D Agger 6 F Aurélio 6 Y Benayoun 6 J Mascherano 6 S Gerrard 7 A Riera 6 D Kuyt 6 R Keane 7 Substitutes R Babel 5 (for Riera, 66min), F Torres (for Keane, 72), X Alonso (for Gerrard, 80) Not used D Cavalieri, S Hyypia, E Insua, N El Zhar. Next Bolton (a).

West Brom (4-4-2): S Carson 4 G Zuiverloon 5 R Donk 5 J Olsson 5 P Robinson 5 R Koren 5 J Greening 5 B Valero 5 Kim Do Heon 5 I Miller 4 R Bednar 4 Substitutes A F Teixeira 5 (for Kim, 56), L Moore 4 (for Bednar, 56) C Brunt (for Miller, 71). Not used D Kiely, C Hoefkens, G Dorrans, P Pele. Next Chelsea (h).

Referee P Walton Attendance 43,451