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While The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their chances of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the silver lining 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 Central Concern: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Italy. Since apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, first XI, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the additional knockout round, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they welcome 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 will face the extra round and then go to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish 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” – 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.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve marching from a pub 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” – one reader.

“I note that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the frequency of representation in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.