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Although The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, the team have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

Although critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see the coach rotate his team incessantly, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they played against Barcelona, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the several alterations 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. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, if not, we will face the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose current form has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, 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” – a star striker revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching 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 note that a reader not only got the previous letter o’ the day, 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 wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of appearances in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.