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Although The London club didn't entirely destroy their chances of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a average team from Italy's top flight.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see the coach rotate his team incessantly, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field eight, nine players that featured against Tottenham, they played against Barca, they play against Wolves, the Gunners,” he stated. “We had most of the regulars that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. 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 avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. In the first, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, before heading back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the playoff and then go to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of the top half in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he forced 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 teeing off rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“So, 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 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” – a correspondent.

“I see that a reader not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.