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Although The Blues didn't entirely destroy their prospects of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by 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 been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

While pundits have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that seems to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think in that game, first XI, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the previous game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the additional knockout round, they will have to be victorious in their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, before heading back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we try to play the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose current form has propelled them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish 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 on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves 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 public house that the supporters intended to visit 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 one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.