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Although Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their chances of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup group stage, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Issue: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their credentials with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team 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 team selection approach that seems to see the coach rotate his team like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think in that game, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barca, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “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

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their final two group games. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, 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 Merseyside team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish 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 played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this email will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters intended to visit 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” – one reader.

“I see that one correspondent not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a name check in a separate 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 regularity of appearances in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.