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Although The Blues avoided a total demolition of their hopes of finishing in the top eight of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of strolling directly into the round of 16. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Concern: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their loss in Italy. After seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, Chelsea have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a average team from Serie A.

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

“I think in that game, first XI, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you see the five changes that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the playoff and then go to the next round,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a match against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. 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” – 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

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. 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 inevitably 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 a reader not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.