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Although The Blues avoided a total demolition of their hopes of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of strolling directly into the round of 16. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Problem: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, the team have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While pundits have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach 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.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they play against Barca, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “There were 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 different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, then travel back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the playoff and then go to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to start on golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this email will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve walking from a public house 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” – a correspondent.

“I see that a reader not only got the previous featured letter, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the regularity of appearances in your mailbag is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.