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While Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their hopes of finishing in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Naturally, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped competition, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Italy. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, the team have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see the coach rotate his team incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view in that game, first XI, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you see the several alterations that we did compared to previous game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. First up, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a match against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. 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, had his dad got his way, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any regular 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 arriving 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – one reader.

“I note that a reader not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate 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 regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.