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Although Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their chances of finishing in the top eight of the continental tournament opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Concern: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon following their defeat in Italy. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that seems 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 mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that featured against Tottenham, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you look at the several alterations that we did from the previous game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the extra round and then progress to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has propelled them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to take up golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the ground 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 a reader not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.