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Although Chelsea avoided a total demolition of their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped competition, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been widely discussed following their loss in Italy. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that seems to see the coach change his lineup constantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view in that game, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, Arsenal,” he stated. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you see the five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s different.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we try to play the playoff and then go to the next round,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Merseyside team whose current form has taken to them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground 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 mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the regularity of representation in your mailbag is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.