ROTATION ROTATION ROTATION
While Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their chances of finishing in the top eight of Bigger Cup group stage by losing against Atalanta, they performed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances 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 Bigger Cup, achieving a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The recently revamped competition’s first champion – Paris Saint-Germain – finished 15th in the “league phase” after Uefa jazzed things up, introducing what appears to be a Super League by stealth. And besides, if any club has sufficient personnel to deal with the added hassle of an extra playoff round, it’s surely the one with so many players on its books that their squad list has to be written on a toilet roll, with a librarian employed to keep track of all their loans.
As the extraordinarily lame gags in the previous sentence prove, Football Daily is a consistently unfunny email and subscribers invariably know what they’re going to get when it slinks apologetically into their spam folders at around the same time every day. Unfortunately 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 on Tuesday. Since apparently rubber-stamping their Bigger Cup and Premier League credentials with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal when they played for over an hour with 10 men, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A. While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition (and Wolves) is largely set in stone.
“I think tonight, first XI, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time, these kind of games. So if you see the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth, it’s different.” To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they welcome David Luiz back to Stamford Bridge with this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, Napoli. “We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the playoff and then go to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Scott Murray at 8pm GMT for Bigger Cup updates on Real Madrid 1-2 Manchester City, while Michael Butler will be on hand with a clockwatch on the men’s action and Sarah Rendell will have Women’s Bigger Cup updates at the same time.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“You know, 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 forced me to start on golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland tells The Rest Is Football podcast how, had his dad Alfie got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state (yesterday’s Football Daily). As any longtime reader of this email 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 inevitably going to. Just showing up 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – Mike Wilner.
I see that Noble Francis not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a name check in Matthew Kipwell’s letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams (again) surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: with the two correspondents mentioned, plus Jon Millard, myself (occasionally) and, no doubt, others, could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely proportional to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – Trevor Townson.
Before Sunday’s Wear–Tyne derby and inspired by Matthew’s experience, I recalled a trip to Roker Park for a derby between Sunderland and Newcastle. No Newcastle fans were allowed in, but a friend got me a ticket in the paddocks and, not wanting to miss out on a bit of history, I went along incognito. When Peter Beardsley equalised, one of the ‘luxury boxes’ erupted in delight. As the Sunderland fans worked themselves into an indignant frenzy trying to storm the boxes, one of them turned to me and said ‘It’s just ‘cos they’re rich. If there was a Mag in here right now, they’d rip him limb from limb.’ I’ve never been as emotionless, or terrified, at any game before or since!” – Ben Graham.
The past six months have proven difficult for West Brom supporters. The old regime had been consigned to history, clearing the way for better times. The new manager arrived with a track record that held the promise of a brighter future. Instead, season ticket holders are (still) unable to identify a philosophy or tactical approach. Knowledgeable football people are surprised by team selections and then dismayed by substitutions made during the game. The manager is a quietly spoken, dignified, courteous, calm man who wears a pained expression when asked to explain himself that belies a clear and obvious lack of confidence and authority. For a Labour voter, this is all too much” – David Royce.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … David Royce. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Join Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning and the rest of the Football Weekly team as they look back on Tuesday’s Bigger Cup action. And if listening’s not enough – now you can watch the pod squad too!
RECOMMENDED SHOPPING
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This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
