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While Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of finishing in the top eight of the European competition opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving 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 lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon following their defeat in Italy. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see the coach rotate his team incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, first XI, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Spurs, they play against Barca, they played 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 five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to win their remaining two matches. In the first, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the playoff and then progress to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a match against an Merseyside team whose current form has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he forced me to start on golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the stadium that they were inevitably going to. Just showing up 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 letter o’ the day, but also a mention 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 representation in your mailbag is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.