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Although Chelsea avoided a total demolition of their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament group stage, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances 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, achieving a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Concern: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Italy. After seemingly confirming their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw 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 Serie A.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see the coach change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they played against Barcelona, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “We had most of the regulars 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.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, before heading back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we try to play the extra round and then go to the next round,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. 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 explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters intended to visit 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 note that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: 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?” – a different supporter.