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Although The Blues avoided a total demolition of their hopes of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped competition, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, Chelsea have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that seems to see the coach change his lineup constantly, the manager maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they played against Barcelona, they played against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he droned. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic 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 played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves 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 public house that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground that they were always going to. Just showing up 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

“I see that a reader not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of appearances in your mailbag is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.