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While The Blues avoided a total demolition of their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Problem: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see the coach change his lineup constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for big matches is largely set in stone.

“I think in that game, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Spurs, 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 from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the extra round and then go to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, 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 forced me to start on golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland 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 poor situation. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the stadium that they were always 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 letter o’ the day, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the frequency of representation in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.