Liam Rosenior has hit back at criticism of his Chelsea team’s approach against Arsenal, claiming being is a pundit is “easy — I’ve been one”.
Chelsea failed to reach the Carabao Cup final as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, with Kai Havertz scoring the only goal of the second leg against his former club with almost the last kick of the game.
That saw Arsenal reach March’s final 4-2 on aggregate, having won the first leg 3-2 at Stamford Bridge.
The approach from Rosenior’s team in Tuesday’s second leg was to keep the game tight, with Chelsea starting with a back three and restricting the space available to Arsenal.
After an hour, the Blues began to play more on the front foot as Estevao and Cole Palmer came off the bench.
Working as a pundit for Sky Sports, the former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson, who grew up a Chelsea supporter, criticised the Blues for not taking enough risks to try to overturn their first-leg deficit.
“I'm flabbergasted,” Merson said. “I can't believe what I've just watched. Chelsea aren't a bottom-five team. They have World Cup winners.
“[Wesley] Fofana is crying. He should be crying because they never had a go. They've gone out with a whimper in a semi-final. It hasn't worked.
“Go out in a blaze of glory, don't go out like that. They played in second gear. This is the semi-final of a cup.”
But Rosenior believes it is too easy for pundits to claim his team simply should have attacked more in the first half.
Speaking after the game, he said: “I've been a pundit. It's easy. It's easy in hindsight.
“So, if I go and attack the game, press really high and we concede two goals early, everyone says: ‘What's he doing?’ That's the reality of my job.
“The reality of my job is if you lose games, you'll be criticised. If you win, you're a genius. It's normally somewhere in between, I think.”
