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While The Blues avoided a total demolition of their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped competition, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Concern: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

Although critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see the coach rotate his team constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Tottenham, they played against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you see 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 additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. In the first, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the extra round and then progress to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed me to start on golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this column 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 the previous letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.