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Although The London club didn’t completely torpedo their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now lost against a average team from Italy's top flight.

While pundits have been eager to point the finger 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 insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his first eleven for big matches is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they played against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “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 a different situation.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we will face the playoff and then go to the next round,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground 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 letter o’ the day, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of appearances in your mailbag is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.