Everton suffered a shock result at home on Saturday when Watford hammered them 5-2 to take all three points from their visit to Goodison Park.
The home side were 2-1 up in the second half but out of nowhere, Watford put grabbed four more goals in a chaotic end to the game that left the Toffees shell-shocked on Merseyside.
Higginbotham admits that it was a massive result for Watford, but insisted Everton were awful in their performance.
He pointed out that Benitez is a naturally counter-attacking manager but against Watford, Everton had to take the initiative, which left them a bit vulnerable at back against the Hornets.
The former defender took to Twitter and wrote: “Huge result for Watford but [a] poor performance from Everton.
“Benitez [is] very much a counter-attacking manager.
“When having to be more expansive they leave themselves wide open.”
Everton will look to bounce back when they travel to take on Wolves a week from Monday.
