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Although The Blues didn't entirely destroy 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 strolling directly into the knockout stages. Of course, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped competition, achieving a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Problem: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their credentials with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate 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 been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy 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, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the several alterations that we did compared to previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of escaping the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the extra round and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a game against an Everton team whose current form has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish 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 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 on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the ground 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 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 led to ponder: could the city be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.