Football League World
·11 April 2023
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·11 April 2023
With first-place Burnley taking on second-place Sheffield United on Easter Monday, it promised to be an entertaining and exciting clash.
However, Wes Foderingham's 17th minute red card for the visitors meant that Burnley had a man advantage for much of the match, which took away from the competitiveness of the fixture.
Indeed, in the end, the side with the man advantage found the breakthrough, with Burnley going on to win 2-0 thanks to a brace from Johann Berg Gudmundsson.
One heated incident did occur during the first half immediately after Foderingham's red card, though.
Blades defender Jack Robinson was sacrificed so that goalkeeper Adam Davies could come on to the pitch, and he did not seem happy about it.
Indeed, he and Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom even appeared to exchange a few heated words in the moment.
Naturally, after the match, it was one of the big talking points, and so questions regarding the matter were put to Heckinbgottom himself.
The Blades boss was quick to say there were no issues, though, and that he loves all of his players.
Heckingbottom told the media, via The Star.
“He knows why I was angry but, genuinely, it’s no problem. There’s no issue there at all.
"I don’t want an apology off any of the lads. I love them to bits and they’re all great blokes.
"Really, I’ve talked about this before, I look at them like they are my kids. People will write about it and talk about it. There’s nothing there.”
The Blades boss went on to add: “We all want to win,”
“It never happened to me in my career but, if it had, I would probably have been upset too.
"It’s not an issue."
Look, no player should ever be arguing with their manager in public and if they really do have something to say about their decisions, those should be conversations had behind closed doors.
I don't think that Robinson deserves any sort of punishment for last night's incident, though.
I think his reaction was very much frustration at being involved in the Foderingham red card incident with some uncertain defending, as much as anything else.
The fact that The Star report that he was seen apologising at half-time shows he knows he let his frustration get the better of him, and with Heckingbottom playing down the incident, the best thing now is for everyone to move on.