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While Chelsea avoided a total demolition of their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the continental tournament opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of strolling directly into the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Issue: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Italy. Since seemingly confirming their credentials with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

While pundits have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that seems to see the coach rotate his team incessantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that featured against Spurs, they play against Barca, they play against Wolves, the Gunners,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

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 Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he forced me to take up golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolves 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 intended to visit anyway, to the stadium that they were inevitably going to. Just showing up 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – one reader.

“I see that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: 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?” – another fan.