So, Blues were pretty poor, it has to be said. Not one performance really stood out from a Blues player. If you had to pick a best performance from any of the Blues side, you'd have to go for Nicklas Bendtner, I'd say. Still, although Blues weren't very good, they still had the chances to get something (at least a draw - probably a victory) out of the game.
Blues once again showed that at times they can open teams up - DJ Campbell and Cameron Jerome both missed glorious one-on-one chances to highlight that, Gary McSheffrey's first half header too was after some neat approach play, and there's no doubting that Blues comfortably have the talent to take teams apart in this division.
So, what's the problem? Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that it's how the team is organised and the instructions that the players are sent out with. In the two league games in which Blues have failed to win so far this season, they've met Stoke City and Cardiff City. Neither team is anywhere near the same class as Blues in terms of quality of personnel, but both have good managers at this level (Tony Pulis and Dave Jones respectively) and both have been supremely well organised. Cardiff may well have a good season (top six) because they have some fair players, but more importantly they're clearly coached well and everyone knows the job they're doing.
Look at Cardiff's team though; I referred to some of them as 'fair players', but that's all they are really. I've been a fan of Paul Parry for a good number of years now, since I saw him playing for Hereford. He played very well, scored a good goal, and made a telling contribution to Cardiff's victory, but would he get anywhere near the Blues team? I think not. If you picked up tomorrow's Evening Mail and read that Blues were set to sign him, would you be chuffed or would you think 'bloody hell - he's not good enough for us'? The latter, I suspect. Michael Chopra's another fine example. He's a fair striker but has never fulfilled his promise. If he was at Blues, I suspect he'd be fifth choice striker. Still, he looked class for Cardiff, not because he's a great player, but because he knows his role and plays it well.
You just can't say anything like that about Blues. Blues are a selection of very good footballers playing with no real system or purpose about them. The fact is, you can throw 11 very good footballers together, and during a 90 minute game, at times they'll click and look good - as Blues have done at times. Without any organisation though, that's all it'll be - the odd flash here and there. If Blues were well organised, well coached and well instructed, I suspect you'd see more than the 'odd flash' in games.
I wrote many words on what went wrong last season on this website, because there were many issues that needed to be addressed. Some of those have been addressed, but it seems the most important one hasn't. Yes, we've now got younger, hungrier players. Yes, it appears that the fitness side of things has been/is being addressed. What good are they though if the absolute basic of good coaching is overlooked?
The older players like Nicky Butt, Mario Melchiot and Chris Sutton were perhaps a factor in Blues struggling last season, but there's no suggestion that they were horrendous footballers. Quite simply, if Blues had coached them properly, used them properly and played with some purpose, even with those players Blues would have comfortably stopped up. Likewise with the injury problems - there was still enough quality in Blues sides last season to stop up easily, injuries or no injuries. The injuries were a factor in Blues going down. Blues' dreadful football was the reason for Blues going down.
It's all very well going out and buying all these young, dynamic players and getting a new fitness coach in and thinking you've solved your problems - the fact is that if your problems came about from the lack of method in the way you play, it won't solve your problems. Blues will win more games than they lose this season because they have very good players. They should win far, far more games than they lose though, if they were coached properly. I tend to think that Blues got the result against Crystal Palace last week in spite of Steve Bruce, not because of him. The fact that there were players on the pitch as good as David Dunn, Nicklas Bendtner, Seb Larsson, etc, etc meant that Blues were able to win anyway - such good players will always have an impact. If properly coached, they should have far more of an impact.
So, back to Saturday, and it was the same old story, I'm afraid. Blues' build up play was generally too slow, they resorted to long balls too often, there appeared to be little shape, etc, etc. At times Blues did put together some decent football though, but it does appear that they do this simply because they're the best set of players in the division, not because of the way that they're coached. There are some great players at Blues now for this level - you can't say that Steve Bruce hasn't got the talent at his disposal. It's time for people to say to him 'You've got everything now - go prove yourself'. The signs aren't encouraging at the moment, I'm afraid. A team of good players will always be able to compete, but unless they're properly coached, they won't be able to do any more than that, and I'm afraid that more than that is what's expected this season.