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While The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their hopes of ending up in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, securing a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Problem: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Italy. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see the coach change his lineup constantly, the manager maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we will face the extra round and then go to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off 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 effective pre-match protests involve marching from a public house that the supporters intended to visit 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” – one reader.

“I note that a reader not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the frequency of appearances in your mailbag is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.