🔗 Share this article

While The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their chances of finishing in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup group stage, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Of course, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Predictable Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Italy. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of Barcelona, and then 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 mid-table side from Serie A.

Although critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see the coach change his lineup incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view in that game, first XI, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they played against Barca, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he stated. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you see the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the playoff and then go to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. 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, had his dad got his way, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good 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 a reader not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams 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 accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.