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Jamie Redknapp called it 'career suicide', the more demure journalists called it 'bold' and F365 asked if it was an inspired selection or an 11-name resignation letter, but boy everyone was getting their knickers in an awful twist over Andre Villas-Boas's team selection.
Of course, any Chelsea team that doesn't include a fit Frank Lampard for a big game is going to produce headlines, and understandably too. He has, after all, scored 11 goals and is Chelsea's joint top-scorer in a fractured season that has been regarded as one of his worst by most.
Most seemed to agree that this was a 'statement' by Villas-Boas. He is clearly trying to force the old guard out. He wants to win on his terms. This is a demonstration that he is in control, etc and so on.
However, was the team he selected for Chelsea's 3-1 defeat not just the most logical for the formation he wanted to play? Villas-Boas decided, not unreasonably, that a 4-2-3-1 system was the best way to combat Napoli's swash-buckling 3-4-3, looking to exploit spaces in-between and on either side of the three-man defence.
Clearly, Juan Mata is the best choice for the central creative role, so where does that leave Lampard? He can't play as one of the two deeper men, so there was no place for him in that side. Equally, Ashley Cole has been injured so his omission was understandable. Perhaps the only selection decision one might seriously question is not playing either/both Michael Essien or John Obi Mikel as a genuine holder, but it was not team selection that was Chelsea's problem in Naples.
Of course, their main problem was the defence. With the...ahem...'erratic' David Luiz and the inexperienced (at Champions League level) Gary Cahill detailed to stop Edinson Cavani, Marek Hamsik and Ezequiel Lavezzi, hilarity was always going to ensue. And ensue it did, with Petr Cech often so nervous about what his defenders would do that he rushed out of his goal to try and clean up their mess. Inevitably, this would eventually cost Chelsea, as it did with Napoli's third goal.
While we're no big fans of John Terry, boy Chelsea have missed him and how he organises their back line. With Terry in the side this season, Chelsea conceded an admittedly not brilliant 25 goals in 26 games, but in the five since their captain has been out, they've let in ten. Without him, they look as if the kid on the PlayStation controlling Luiz is directing all of them, and he's had too much Ribena.
There were other issues as well, not least the curious and illogical sight, early in the game, of Chelsea hoofing the ball miles over the most creative midfield they could realistically pick in the general direction of Didier Drogba.
However, Chelsea can take solace in Napoli's own defending, which at times was just as bad as their own. Chelsea's problem on this occasion was not taking the chances presented (they had 14 shots to Napoli's 15), so if Napoli play like that again at Stamford Bridge, then Chelsea might be laughing.
The second leg will be a tough task, not least because one could argue Napoli, with their rapid counter-attacks, are even more dangerous away from home than at the San Paolo.
However, it's far from over. The way some people were talking before the game, Chelsea were going to be swept aside by this thundering force of Italian nature, when in reality Napoli have thundered their way to sixth in a Serie A table full of inconsistent sides. Indeed, they've won only nine league games this season. They're good, but a distance from being unstoppable.
Chelsea will be written off by many, but at two goals down and with an away goal in the bank, they're not out of this yet. Not by quite some way.
Nick Miller - è sul Twitter
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