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While The London club avoided a total demolition of their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the European competition opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Of course, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped competition, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Problem: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, the team have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that appears to see the coach change his lineup incessantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they play against Barca, they played against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had eight, nine players 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 different.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the extra round and then go to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of the top half in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream 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 practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained 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 intended to visit anyway, to the stadium that they were inevitably going to. Just arriving 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

“I see that a reader not only got the previous featured letter, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.