So Blues bow out of the Carling Cup with a whimper, losing 1-0 to second division opposition. The grief has already started, and while I could go on about 'the league is more important' and other tired phrases, I'd be lying. We had a great chance to progress in this competition, Bruce says he's taking the competition seriously, and promptly puts out a strong side - minus Robbie Savage and Christophe Dugarry, with Mikael Forssell on the bench. Why drop Savage, who publicly stated his desire for Blues to take this competition seriously and do well in it? Frankly for the first time in a long while as a Blues fan I'm incredibly disappointed with the manager's attitude. I don't understand why he played certain first teamers and not others - especially someone as important as Sav. And why Clemence took the penalty we missed on 55 minutes I'll never know.

Oh well, the grief has already started on the message boards, and frankly we deserve it. We can only hope these players remember how much they're paid when they come to play Portsmouth on Saturday, and maybe some of our fans who publicly stated how tonight would be a 'walk in the park' will regain their memory in time for Saturday, and remember to never take the opposition - whoever it is - lightly.