Maresca's Unceasing Team Changes Puts Chelsea Reeling.

While Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their prospects of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Issue: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, 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, the team have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see the coach rotate his team constantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“I think in that game, first XI, we had on the field eight, nine players that featured against Spurs, they played against Barcelona, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he stated. “We had most of the regulars that are the ones playing every time for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the several alterations that we did compared to previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, before heading back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the extra round and then go to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to start on golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“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 marching from a public house that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the stadium that they were inevitably going to. Just arriving 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 name check in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.