Maresca's Relentless Team Changes Leaves Chelsea Off Balance.
Although Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their hopes of ending up in the highest eight places of the European competition opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
The Core Issue: A Predictable Lack of Consistency
Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their credentials with an commanding victory of Barcelona, and then a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, the team have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.
Although critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that seems to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup 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, first XI, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” 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 five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s a different situation.”
What Comes Next
To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.
“We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the extra round and then go to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the domestic league.
Side Stories
Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed me to take up golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off 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 ground 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” – a correspondent.
“I note that a reader not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the frequency of appearances in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.
