Thomas Gravesen's second half penalty after Muzzy Izzet was sent off for deliberate handball was the difference between the sides in a poor encounter.
As with some of my reports last season, this will be less of a report - as the game was woeful and not much happened - and more of a rant, as Blues were absolutely clueless yet again.
Ok, where to start? Well, last week's excellent victory at Anfield looks a bit of a waste now. A lucky victory away from home was the kind of thing that Blues needed to kick start their campaign, but it looks like that was a false dawn. At the end of the day, the win at Anfield overshadowed the fact that Blues weren't up to much up there either - if it wasn't for Liverpool's lack of finishing, that would have been a comprehensive defeat too.
So, on the back of such a lucky victory, Steve Bruce opted for the same side and the 4-4-1-1/4-5-1 formation that earned that win. Blues also maintained the same tactics as they have played all season - namely long balls at Emile Heskey's head. Now, this tactic fails miserably when you play a lone striker for one principal reason - when your lone striker is flicking the ball on, he's flicking it on to nobody. Izzet may play 'just off' Heskey in this formation, but that doesn't mean that he's going to be ahead of him and collecting flick ons. That means he's further down the field and Heskey is flicking the ball on to the opposition defence.
As for Heskey, well, Blues are very gradually ruining a very good footballer. Opinions on him will always be divided, because of his goalscoring record, but the one fact cannot be disputed - he's not a bad footballer. Blues, however, are making him look like a one-trick pony, that trick being winning headers. You may as well pick Kevin Francis (though you'd need to sign him first), because at least he's taller. The sole purpose of having Heskey in the team at the moment seems to be to play long balls at his head, and in doing that, you're wasting a very good footballer. The fact that he's flicking the ball on to the opposition is actually making him look pretty rubbish, and he's not a rubbish player.
So, I've touched on the style of play, and one of the biggest worries is the clear lack of tactics. I would honestly love to have a member of Blues' coaching staff sit down with me and tell me how it is they hope to prise teams open and beat teams. If it's hoofing long balls up to a centre forward so he can flick the ball on to defenders, then that won't work - it doesn't need a rocket scientist to tell you that. So, what else do Blues have? Well, absolutely nothing, it seems. There is no evidence whatsoever of any kind of system, style of play, method of breaking a team down, etc, etc, etc.
The reason away followings are dwindling in numbers is because Blues are boring to watch. They don't play football, they don't entertain, they just don't do anything. It appears that they have no purpose whatsoever. When they go out on the pitch, surely they should have some sort of plan or idea of how they're going to go about winning that football match? Well, I can honestly say that it appears that they don't.
Being able to pick passes and play a good ball is obviously going to be key to any team who wants to win games. As such, without David Dunn, it seems to me that Blues are left with just one player able to pick such passes and break down a team with one killer ball, and that player is Darren Anderton. So, obviously Anderton's first choice in the middle of midfield? Of course he's not. We'll bring him on with 10 minutes to go instead. In the meantime, Stephen Clemence is picked, and on what basis I have no idea. He can't pass, he's not very quick, he's not especially defensive... he's just not very good. He's ok, but Aliou Cisse and Bryan Hughes were both 'ok', and at least with them you could see their purpose. Why pick Clemence? What does he bring to the team?
Speaking of players being picked, Damien Johnson continues to appear in the first eleven. Now, I find it a lot harder to criticise Johnson, because he's a real worker, will play absolutely anywhere, and does have his moments where he can look a decent player. However, in picking him in the wide right role in this formation, it means that Jesper Gronkjaer is being shifted to the left hand side, and to accommodate Julian Gray, he's being played left back. Now, there's a left back on the bench in Jamie Clapham. Why not play the left back at left back? Then, play the left winger on the left wing and the right winger on the right wing. All this bloody chaging positions to accommodate certain players is a waste of time.
I could go on for hours, but I'll bore myself and bore anyone reading this, but changes really and truly do have to be made. At present, Blues are going nowhere fast. They are utterly clueless at how to beat a team. They'll continue to not score goals, and teams will continue to nick goals against them, even if they haven't had as much possession, and so Blues will continue to lose. There's no point harping on about 'hard luck stories' and 'oh, we had so much of the ball', because if you have the ball for the entire 90 minutes, it's no good at all unless you do something with it.
Until Blues figure out a way to play the game, they will keep getting beat - by most teams. Everton may be third in the Premiership, but they're still not very good. Last season Blues beat them 3-0 at home, and since then they've lost the hottest property in world football and signed Tim Cahill. I don't care where they are in the league, Blues should be beating them at home.