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While Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their hopes of finishing in the top eight of the European competition opening phase, they performed a targeted blow 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, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Problem: A Predictable Inconsistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been widely discussed since their defeat in Italy. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see the coach rotate his team constantly, the manager insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that featured against Spurs, they played against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the extra round and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose current form has taken to them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. 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 explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this column will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground 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 Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.