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While The Blues didn't entirely destroy their hopes of finishing in the highest eight places of the continental tournament group stage, they performed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Concern: A Predictable Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Italy. After seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, the team have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

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 maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they played against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the several alterations that we did compared to previous game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the extra round and then go to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, 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 pushed me to start on golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this column will know, the only good 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 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 letter o’ the day, but also a mention in another reader's 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 accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.