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While The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of ending up in the top eight of the continental tournament group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Problem: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality 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 lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup constantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think in that game, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “We had most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the five changes that we did compared to previous game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the extra round and then progress to the following stage,” remarked Maresca, whose following fixture 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 somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he pushed me to start on golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a pub 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” – one reader.

“I note that a reader not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the regularity of representation in your mailbag is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.