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Although The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their chances of finishing in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving 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 sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon following their loss in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they played against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth 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 final two group games. First up, they host this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, then travel back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the extra round and then progress to the following stage,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed me to take up golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this column will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the stadium that they were inevitably going to. Just arriving 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

“I see that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.