Rosenior defends tactics after Chelsea’s cup defeat

Liam Rosenior defended his cautious tactics after Chelsea were unable to pull off a second-leg comeback in their Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal.

The Blues, 3-2 down from the first leg, failed to seriously trouble Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, and Kai Havertz’s stoppage-time goal against his former club sealed their fate.

Head coach Rosenior switched to a back three and a conservative approach in the hope of staying in the tie and then coming on strong later in the game.

Cole Palmer and Estevao were duly brought on on the hour mark, but Chelsea still struggled to create clear-cut chances as the Gunners stood firm.

Rosenior’s tactics attracted criticism from pundits, but he said: “I’ve been a pundit. It’s easy. It’s easy in hindsight.

“If I go and attack the game, press really high and we can concede two early goals, everyone says ‘What’s he doing?’ That’s the reality.

“The reality of my job is that if you lose games you’ll be criticised. If you win, you’re a genius. It’s normally somewhere in between, I think.”

Chelsea faced a tough task against the Premier League leaders and Rosenior – who was without Reece James and Pedro Neto because of “small knocks” – confirmed that his approach was to stay in the game and frustrate the home crowd in the hope of eventually turning the tide in his team’s favour.

“That was it. You saw it. I felt he psychological aspect of the tie was very important and I felt in the stadium as well,” he said.

“On 60 minutes, I bring on Cole and Estevao and the game opens up and we have moments in and around the box. I think there was a feeling in the stadium that this tie could turn.

“We didn’t achieve what we wanted to. But I have to give our players so much credit for what they put into the game and ultimately their goal comes when we’re just throwing the kitchen sink at the game.”