🔗 Share this article

While Chelsea avoided a total demolition of their chances of finishing in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup group stage, they performed 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 new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Problem: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon following their defeat in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a dull draw 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 selection policy that appears to see the coach rotate his team like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had 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

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, before heading back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, otherwise, 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 recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of the top half in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to take up golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters planned to be at 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” – a correspondent.

“I see that one correspondent not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.