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Although Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their hopes of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of strolling directly into the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of Barcelona, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a dull draw at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Serie A.

While pundits have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that seems to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team constantly, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for big matches is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, first XI, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they played against Barca, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” 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 previous game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we try to play the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, 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 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 teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground that they were inevitably 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 a reader not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again surrendered 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 achieving on the field?” – another fan.