🔗 Share this article

Although The London club didn’t completely torpedo their chances of finishing in the top eight of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Problem: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon following their loss in Bergamo. 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 a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a average team from Serie A.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his starting lineup for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you look at the several alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders 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 extra round and then go to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed me to start on golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a public house that the supporters planned to be at 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” – a correspondent.

“I note that one correspondent not only got the previous featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely proportional to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.