🔗 Share this article

Although Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their hopes of finishing in the top eight of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Of course, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Italy. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that seems to see the coach change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven 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 played against Barcelona, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the extra round and then go to the following stage,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has propelled them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. 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 on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a public house that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground 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 note that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a name check 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 Sheffield be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.