Chelsea's Carabao Cup campaign is over, but who is to blame? On Tuesday night, 3-2 down from the first leg at Stamford Bridge, 6,000 Blues made the seven mile journey across the capital to see their side face Arsenal in the return fixture of their EFL Cup semi-final.
Needing to score at least once to stand any chance of reaching Wembley, Chelsea failed to do so in a cagey affair that can be politely described as the archetypical fascinating tactical battle. In the 98th minute, as the visitors threw everyone forward, they got caught on the counter. Declan Rice switched the ball across to Kai Havertz who, in a goal reminiscent of his winner in the Champions League Final for Chelsea, rounded Robert Sánchez and cooly slotted home.
This sparked wild scenes of celebration all around the Emirates, while the away section emptied in record time. It just had to be Havertz didn't it? So, the inquest begins; who is to blame for Chelsea's elimination?
Liam Rosenior's failed tactical masterplan vs Arsenal
Since replacing Enzo Maresca last month, Liam Rosenior has won six out of eight matches as Chelsea manager, the two exceptions both coming across this tie. Thus, exiting at the hands of Arsenal was the first real set back he has faced, so should the finger of blame be pointed towards him?
Chelsea statistics vs Arsenal: first half vs second half
Statistics | Chelsea 1st half | Chelsea 2nd half |
|---|---|---|
Goals | Zero | Zero |
Shots | 3 | 11 |
Shots on target | 1 | 1 |
Shots inside the box | 1 | 4 |
Shots outside the box | 2 | 7 |
Kepa Arrizabalaga saves | 1 | Zero |
Big chances | Zero | 1 |
Corners | 2 | 3 |
Final third entries | 26 | 29 |
Note: All stats courtesy of SofaScore.
As early as 6:45pm (GMT), it was clear Rosenior had arrived at the Emirates with a clear game plan. When the lineups dropped, it featured Chelsea seemingly in a 5-3-2, with Jorrel Hato part of a five man backline, Andrey Santos completing a solid midfield trio and Liam Delap partnering João Pedro in attack. All of the Blues' available wingers were left in reserve, with Delap taking up a wide position on the right hand side. Fair to say, this did not suit his skillset, giving Piero Hincapié no issues all night.
Rosenior's game plan was clear. Keep it tight for an hour and then push for the equaliser on aggregate thereafter; the fact that both Cole Palmer and Estêvão were introduced after an hour is evidence of this strategy. However, it certainly did not work.
Chelsea merely wasted the first 60 minutes, taking no risks and rarely threatening, with Kepa Arrizabalaga's sole save of the game coming on the cusp of half time, getting a strong hand on an Enzo Fernández effort from the edge of the area. In fairness to Rosenior, Arsenal did not look like scoring very much either but, then again, they didn't need to.
The masterplan really fell down in part two, because Chelsea simply did not have a second gear in which to go to. In the second half, the visitors created just one big chance, forced Kepa into no saves, only mustered three more final third entries than during the opening 45, while seven of their 11 second half shots came from outside the box. In fact, between the seventh and 97th minutes, Chelsea did not manage a single open play shot from inside the penalty area.
Alejandro Garnacho was thrown on but, as is his want, he did very little to impact the game in a positive way for his team, as Chelsea rather slumped out in the end.
Who knows, had Rosenior gone for it from minute one his team may have ended up like Newcastle at the Etihad 24 hours later. Nevertheless, his galaxy brain idea suggests he does not believe his team can compete with Europe's best, and simply saw them die wondering what could have been. With games against Wolves, Leeds, Hull and Burnley up next, the Blues need to bounce back straight away.