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Although The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their chances of finishing in the top eight of the European competition group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of strolling directly into the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the brief 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 sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see the coach rotate his team like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for big matches is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they play against Barca, they played 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 several alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we try to play the extra round and then go to the following stage,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton 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 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 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 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 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” – one reader.

“I note that one correspondent not only got the previous featured letter, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.