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While The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup group stage, they performed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Of course, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Problem: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. 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 snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team constantly, the manager insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “There were most of the regulars 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 different.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. First up, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the extra round and then progress to the next round,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a match 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: “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 take up golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a public house that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the stadium that they were always 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 name check in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.