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Although The Blues didn't entirely destroy their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news 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 Central Problem: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side 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 bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team 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 Italy's top flight.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that seems to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view in that game, first XI, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Tottenham, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the several alterations 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, they will have to win their final two group games. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we try to play the playoff and then go to the next round,” remarked Maresca, whose following fixture is a game against an Everton team whose current form has propelled them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “You know, 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” – Erling Haaland explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any regular 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 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” – one reader.

“I note that one correspondent not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield 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?” – another fan.