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While The London club didn’t completely torpedo their hopes of ending up in the highest eight places of the European competition group stage, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of strolling directly into the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, securing a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Issue: A Predictable Inconsistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Italy. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team 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 quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup incessantly, the manager insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, first XI, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they play against Barca, they play against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the five changes that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” remarked Maresca, whose following fixture is a match against an Merseyside team whose current form has propelled them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to start on golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the stadium that they were always 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 one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of appearances in your mailbag is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.