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Although The London club didn’t completely torpedo their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Of course, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Concern: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon following their defeat in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their credentials with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, the team have been defeated by Leeds, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While pundits have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that seems to see the coach change his lineup constantly, the manager maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his starting lineup for big matches is mostly fixed.

“I think in that game, starting team, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “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 Bournemouth game, it’s different.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the extra round and then go to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose current form has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh 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 ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed me to take up golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a poor situation. 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 showing up 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

“I note that a reader not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of appearances in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.