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Although The London club didn’t completely torpedo their chances of finishing in the highest eight places of the European competition opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Problem: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Italy. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, followed by a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, 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 Italy's top flight.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see the coach change his lineup constantly, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for big matches is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that featured against Spurs, they play against Barca, they play against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “We had most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you look at the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we try to play the extra round and then go to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “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 forced me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“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 pub that the supporters planned to be at 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” – a correspondent.

“I note that a reader not only got the previous featured letter, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.