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Although The London club didn’t completely torpedo their hopes of finishing in the highest eight places of the European competition group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Concern: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon following their loss in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team have been defeated by Leeds, played out a dull draw at the south coast club and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that seems to see the coach change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they played against Barca, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Merseyside team whose current form 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 greatest wish 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 practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers 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 public house that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the ground 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 see that a reader not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.