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While Chelsea avoided a total demolition of their chances of ending up in the top eight of the continental tournament opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Concern: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that seems to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup constantly, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his starting lineup for big matches is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that featured against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the five changes that we did compared to previous game, it’s different.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. In the first, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, before heading back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the extra round and then go to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he pushed me to start on golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the stadium that they were always going to. Just arriving 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

“I note that a reader not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of representation in your mailbag is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.