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While The London club didn't entirely destroy their hopes of ending up in the highest eight places of the European competition group stage, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped competition, securing a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Concern: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their loss in Italy. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a dull draw at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

Although critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that seems to see the coach change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they play against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “There were 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

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, before heading back to the continent 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 match against an Everton team whose current form has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he pushed me to take up golf. So I practiced 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 Premier League.

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 marching from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the stadium 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 see that one correspondent not only got the previous 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 the city 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.