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Although The Blues didn't entirely destroy their hopes of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Issue: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate 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 selection policy that appears to see the coach change his lineup incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for big matches is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they play against Barca, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you look at the five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, then travel back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the extra round and then go to the next round,” remarked the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Side Stories

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 practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this email will know, the only good 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 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 featured letter, but also a mention 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 representation in your mailbag is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.