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Although The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Of course, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Problem: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Italy. After seemingly confirming their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see the coach change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“I think in that game, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Spurs, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, the Gunners,” he stated. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you look at the five changes 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 remaining two matches. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, then travel back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we will face the playoff and then go to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a game against an Everton team whose current form has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he pushed me to start on 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 on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only effective 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 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 the previous featured letter, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.