When you have just contributed to a damaging home defeat, often, the last thing you want to do is talk about it to a bunch of strangers who will point out your blunder to the world. So hats off and a pat on the back to Sunderland’s Danny Higginbotham at the weekend.
The defender had gifted Blackburn their second goal at the Stadium of Light with a weak back pass in the second half, he was feeling terrible about it, he had just apologised to his deflated teammates in the dressing room and then he had to apologise to the supporters, via the media.
You might say it was only the sensible and correct thing to do after a costly personal mistake, but you would be surprised how many footballers would have shuffled away from the ground and into their expensive car without saying a word publicly.
Indeed, there are some footballers out there who feel they don’t have to say anything to anybody if they don’t want to. That their time is far too precious to waste on interviews with nasty journalists who write horrible things about them sometimes. I won’t bore you with my complaints about the attitude of some modern players and I won’t name names here, but Higginbotham’s behaviour is not always the norm.
Higginbotham, though, is a senior pro and has the experience to know that it was best to get things off his chest, apologise and then begin the process of moving on from the mistake.
He might sound like an extra from Channel Four’s magnificent Manchester-based drama Shameless, but he was a class act in his handling of a difficult situation on Saturday - even if his back pass was about as classy as Frank Gallagher on a 12-pint bender.
As for Sunderland, it is perhaps the most over-used word in football, but they were very disappointing against Blackburn in the sort of Premier League game that is high on commitment and energy, but low on skill and flair.
The bottom line is that, without Carlos Edwards, Dean Whitehead and Kieran Richardson, Roy Keane does not have the players at his disposal to create enough chances for Sunderland to win games like Saturday’s.
While the Wearsiders have one of the biggest squads in the division - 40 first team pros according to the back of the matchday programme - they are looking a little short in key areas. No wonder Niall Quinn used his chairman’s notes to indicate the club will invest heavily again during the January transfer window.
What imagination and quality there was belonged to the visitors with David Bentley and Roque Santa Cruz’s performance highlighting the ineffectual nature of Kenwyne Jones and Michael Chopra’s afternoon.
Blackburn are not the best team in the Premier League, but they are well-established at this level and they made Sunderland look like the raw and inexperienced new recruits they are.
Never mind, everything can be put right again at Arsenal next weekend! I mean they are only top of the table and thrashed Derby County 5-0 last week. Nothing to worry about!
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