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Although Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their hopes of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, achieving a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Concern: A Predictable Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Italy. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, the team have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a average team from Italy's top flight.

Although pundits have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his starting lineup for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you look at the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of escaping the additional knockout round, they will have to be victorious in their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we will face the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has propelled them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to start on 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 top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, 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 marching from a public house that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the stadium 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 one correspondent not only got the previous featured letter, but also a name check in a separate 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 regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.