The Manager's Unceasing Rotation Has Chelsea Reeling.
Although The Blues didn't entirely destroy their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the European competition opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.
The Central Issue: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency
Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, the team have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a average team from Serie A.
Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for big matches is mostly fixed.
“In my view in that game, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Tottenham, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the several alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth game, it’s different.”
The Path Forward
For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.
“Victories in both are required, if not, we try to play the playoff and then progress to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has propelled 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 biggest dream 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 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 scoring goals in the top flight.
Readers' Letters
“Well, 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 walking from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground 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 see that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.