Maresca's Relentless Rotation Leaves Chelsea Off Balance.

While Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their prospects of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament group stage, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of strolling directly into the round of 16. Of course, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon following their loss in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that seems to see the coach change his lineup constantly, the manager insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they played against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of escaping the additional knockout round, they will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the extra round and then progress to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose current form has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he pushed me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, 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 pub that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the stadium 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” – one reader.

“I note that one correspondent not only got the previous featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield 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.