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Although The Blues avoided a total demolition of their chances of ending up in the top eight of the European competition opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Problem: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Italy. After seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a dull draw at the south coast club and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that seems to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Tottenham, they play against Barca, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had 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 previous game, it’s different.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they welcome the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we try to play the playoff and then go to the following stage,” remarked Maresca, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose current form has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. 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 explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been on the golf course 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 effective pre-match protests involve walking from a public house that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the stadium that they were always going to. Just showing up 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

“I note that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of representation in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.