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While Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their chances of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Of course, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Issue: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, Chelsea 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 Serie A.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup constantly, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven 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 featured against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they played 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 five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their remaining two matches. In the first, they host the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the playoff and then go to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed 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 on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular 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 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 the previous letter o’ the day, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the regularity of representation in your mailbag is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.