Maresca's Unceasing Rotation Has Chelsea Off Balance.
While The London club didn't entirely destroy their prospects of ending up in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Naturally, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped competition, securing a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
The Core Problem: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency
Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, 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 Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.
Although critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team incessantly, the manager maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.
“In my view tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “We had 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
For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to be victorious in their final two group games. In the first, they host the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.
“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we try to play the extra round and then go to the next round,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the domestic league.
Other Notes
Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. 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, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.
Readers' Letters
“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a public house that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the stadium 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 Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.