Maresca's Unceasing Team Changes Leaves Chelsea Off Balance.

Although Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year 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 Central Concern: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Italy. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that seems to see the coach change his lineup incessantly, the manager maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for big matches is mostly fixed.

“I think in that game, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barca, they played against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you look at the five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to win their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the extra round and then go to the next round,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. 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 revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a public house 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” – one reader.

“I see that one correspondent not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of appearances in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.