Kem Izzet had opened the scoring for the home side, but Clemence equalised not long after in a game that Blues could have - and perhaps should have - won.
Steve Bruce made a few changes to the Blues side that he turned out against Southend. Radhi Jaidi came in for the injured Matthew Upson - granted he'd have come in had Upson not been injured, because he's now at West Ham, but it was an opportunity to mention that Upson is now injured. In midfield Bruce restored the Clemence/Fabrice Muamba axis that had driven Blues so impressively to the top of the league at the back end of 2006. This meant that Mehdi Nafti and Seb Larsson missed out, with Damien Johnson taking Larsson's place on the right. The biggest surprise, however, was in goal where Colin Doyle replaced Maik Taylor who was on the bench and obviously just dropped after some less than impressive recent performances. Nicklas Bendtner was back on the bench, alongside Larsson, DJ Campbell and former Colchester hero Neil Danns. Anyway, I'll come back to the team selection later.
Blues really struggled to create much in the first half, and the main problem was the front two of Rowan Vine and Cameron Jerome. Sometimes forwards can get isolated through the rest of the team playing too deep, but sometimes forwards can also isolate themselves by not holding the ball up and allowing teammates to support them and join in with the play. Being direct is no bad thing in a striker, if you do it in moderation and have a balance to your play. Blues' problem in the first half was that Vine and Jerome both looked to be very direct. When you've got two strikers both doing that, the rest of the team is left behind leaving them to it and the two strikers aren't even linking up with one another. As such, arguably Blues' most influential player in Gary McSheffrey never got into the game (this wasn't helped by Vine constantly drifting left and forcing McSheffrey further out either) and the likes of Clemence and Muamba never got into the game in an attacking sense, as no one was holding the ball up and bringing them into play - the forwards were an isolated unit, mainly because you had two individuals looking to do exactly the same thing, and Blues struggled to get going as a result.
The second half started in a similar manner. Vine had a decent enough strike blocked for Blues, before Izzet, younger brother of former Blues Treatmeant Table veteran Muzzy, made it 1-0. Iwelumo turned and shot from distance and hit the post, and Izzet followed up to score with Doyle wrong-footed. Blues immediately threw on Bendtner for Vine and, surprise surprise, the game changed.
Following the approaches of both Vine and Jerome, as discussed above, Blues suddenly had a forward dropping deep with his back to goal, bringing others into the game, allowing the midfield to get ahead of him, etc, etc. Bendtner's arrival suddenly meant that Blues as an attacking threat weren't simply restricted to an isolated front two, but that the whole of the midfield could not get involved too, as Bendtner's ability (and footballing brain) meant that he immediately brought the rest of the team into the game. Wayne Brown had been having one of the easiest games of his long career up until this, superbly marshalling the home defence, but suddenly he and Colchester had something to think about.
Blues were level midway through the second half. Colchester 'keeper Dean Gerken made a fine, fine save from a Jaidi header and tipped the ball around the post when it seemed to be past him. However, from the resulting corner McSheffrey delivered and Clemence stole in to head home from close range and level matters.
Blues were in the ascendency now, and probably should have gone on to win the game. Johnson shot weakly wide when well placed, and Jerome missed an absolutely glorious chance from close range following good work from Bendtner - some of Jerome's finishing at times leaves a lot to be desired. As the game neared it's conclusion Bendtner began to frustrate with his over-eagerness/greediness - perhaps he was aware of the impact he'd had on the game and decided to try and crown that impact with a glorious winner himself, but it wasn't to be and the game ended 1-1.
I promised I'd come back to the team selection, and so I will. The team selection for this game was wrong. I've gone into some detail with respect to the forwards above, but basically picking Vine and Jerome up front together meant that for almost an hour of this game Blues played in the way that I described - with an isolated forward line and little or no support. Bendtner coming on changed all that, and Blues could and should have gone on to win the game.
With respect to Rowan Vine, I appreciate that club has spend a fair whack of money on him, but they did that because we were short of numbers up front, and an injury or two would deplete those numbers to critical levels. However, with four available forwards for this game, and with Vine (by all accounts) not exactly setting the world alight in his debut against Southend, he shouldn't have started ahead of Bendtner or Campbell. If Bruce feels an obligation to start him because of the transfer fee (you could argue the same for Jerome) then signing him will be a mistake. When you sign a player, their fee is what it takes to get them to the club, but once at the club all the player's values are equal - you can't pick someone because they cost you more money and so you feel you should - you have to pick the best team available to you on the day, and picking Jerome and Vine together, if they're going to play with their heads down and as direct as they did today, is a mistake.
Go right back towards the start of the season and to the Crystal Palace home game when 'Johnsongate' surfaced - Blues' skipper threw his shirt and armband to the ground and the St Andrews crowd met his withdrawl with cheers. At the time, in this column (technically it's not really a column, but that makes me sound like a proper journalist, like) I said that it was Steve Bruce's fault, because he was hanging Damien Johnson out to dry. Well, I'm afraid, it's going to happen again - mark my words. The Blues fans will turn on Johnson again soon, and it is Bruce's fault. The decision to drop Larsson to continue to shoe-horn Johnson into the team anywhere that Bruce can was ridiculous. Larsson has been one of our most influential players over the past six weeks and Johnson has had far less impact.
Damien Johnson is not a bad player - he's more than capable at this level, and his versatility makes him a key player for Blues. However, if Clemence can be rested, and if Muamba can be rested, and if Bendtner can be rested, and if Nafti can be rested, and if Larsson can be rested, etc, etc, etc, then Johnson too can be rested. He's not as influential or important as, say, McSheffrey, who you moreorless cannot leave out of the team. Bruce has used the 'squad rotation' system this season, and it's worked at times, but Damien Johnson should not be immune to being involved in that - if the team would benefit from Johnson being left out, he HAS to be left out, regardless of him being club captain or whatever. He's not so influential that he should play every minute of every game. You can already sense it happening - people are already muttering "he's picked bloody Johnson again", and to do so ahead of Larsson at this moment in time is frankly ridiculous. As I say, mark my words, more will come of this, and the whole situation will blow up again - a football crowd as one big entity isn't intelligent enough - whilst in the heat of the moment during a game that isn't going Blues' way - (that's no insult - it's just the crowd mentality) to disassociate what's happening in Bruce exposing Johnson from reacting to Johnson the player himself, and I guarantee that in a forthcoming game Johnson will be taken off to cheers, he will be left on and someone else will be taken off to boos, or he'll be left out and there'll be cheers as his name is read out as a substitute. It's a problem Bruce needs to nip in the bud now, because after the Palace game everyone forgave and forgot, but it's difficult to imagine that happening again.
I'm not quite sure what happened over Christmas and January, but Steve Bruce, who had done a fantastic job in reviving the side's fortunes and getting Blues into a position where they went into a game looking to go 11 points clear at the top of the league, seems to have lost focus somewhat. Why did Clemence totally disappear for a month or so when he was the catalyst that propelled Blues to where they were? Why was there so much tinkering to the team? In the run Blues had, there was the odd change on occasions, but it was moreorless the same team that was going out there every week, and it was certainly the same style of play - why have we changed that to accommodate one or two individuals? Bruce finally got Clemence and Muamba back together in the middle, but he needs to fully return to how and why we were doing so well - Bendtner has to play as he's solar systems ahead of any other striker we have. Larsson needs to play, because he creates and scores goals. Johnson needs a spell on the bench - he's a bloody good substitute, he covers plenty of positions - and if, in four or five games time Clemence, Muamba or Larsson need a break or are suspended, then he's a more than adequate replacement, but if we want to get back to where we were, he shouldn't be starting at the moment. No one should be being rested at the moment - we haven't played enough games lately to merit people getting 'rests' - and as such, Johnson shouldn't be starting and to continue to pick him is only going to create problems.
I know people will say "look at Colchester's home record - this is a good result", but I'm sorry, Colchester weren't very good and Blues should have beaten them. Maybe they were stunning in their previous thirteen home games, but I don't care about that - they were poor in this one and any team thinking about automatic promotion should have beaten them today. Also, no disrespect (though it's actually probably disrespectful), but it's Colchester bloody United - their star players are Chris Iwelumo, Jamie Cureton and Wayne Brown. I don't care how everyone else has been getting on there this season, a team with the players Blues had available to them, and in the face of little or no threat from Colchester, should have beaten them - it's that simple. Derby, Preston and Albion all had tough away games at exactly the same time, and none of those teams were happy with a draw - each one of them picked up three points. Blues should have done the same.
When Blues won 5-1 at Newcastle United recently the national press was full of the phrase 'papering over the cracks' the next day - had Newcastle's recent good form just papered over the cracks that Blues so cruelly and clinically exposed that night? Well, has that performance papered over a lot of cracks for Blues lately? That game aside, in their last seven games Blues haven't won a game. Again, no disrespect (but at the same time, plenty of disrespect), in those seven games Blues have played Luton Town, Southend United and Colchester United. I'm not saying things are falling to pieces, but in the above paragraph I mentioned three other teams who are suddenly doing pretty well for themselves, and you can throw in a revitalised Cardiff City, a revitalised Sunderland and Southampton (who were beaten by Derby, but are still strong), and suddenly things aren't looking quite so rosy for Blues.