Ruud Gullit didn’t think Liam Delap looked happy at all after starting as a winger for Chelsea in their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Arsenal. Manager Liam Rosenior put Delap out on the right, which is not really his thing, and Chelsea just couldn’t get anything going offensively. They came into the match already trailing 3-2 from the first leg, and Rosenior’s tactical tweak didn’t do much to trouble Arsenal’s defence.

Chelsea was hoping to turn things around and reach Wembley, but the game at the Emirates was flat. Kai Havertz scored late to seal the deal for Arsenal, who went through 4-2 on aggregate. After the game, people weren’t shy about criticising Chelsea’s performance. Paul Merson even said they “played like a bottom four team,” which is pretty harsh but hard to argue with after watching that match.

Rosenior tried to defend his decisions afterwards. He talked about the need to manage the psychological side of the tie, saying he wanted to keep things tight and see if Chelsea could grab a moment to turn the game. He brought on Cole Palmer and Estevao around the hour mark, hoping to shake things up, and Chelsea did get a bit more lively in attack. Still, in the end, Arsenal held firm. Rosenior said he was proud of his players’ effort, even though the result was all that really mattered.

Gullit, though, thought Delap’s role out wide was a problem. He told Gambling Insider, “Liam Delap was not happy starting on the right wing against Arsenal. Rosenior clearly wanted to hit long balls to him, but Delap looked lost out there. Sure, it was tactical, but Delap just didn’t look comfortable. If you get the ball in the box, he’ll try to make something happen, but playing deeper or out wide just isn’t his game. Honestly, it’s a shame he didn’t play closer to Joao Pedro. Pedro looked pretty isolated up top, and having Delap up there with him would have helped both of them.”

Gullit also thought Chelsea just wasn’t creative all night. “They waited too long to really go for it,” he said. “When Palmer and Estevao came on, things improved a bit, but Arsenal also started sitting back more. Chelsea just didn’t have the firepower—they barely created any chances. I get why Rosenior set the team up the way he did, trying not to concede, but there was just no spark. Arsenal defended well and never really looked threatened.”

Delap’s not having a great time at Chelsea in general. The club spent £30 million on him last summer, but he hasn’t made the impact people expected. He’s only scored once in the Premier League, and pundit Troy Deeney thinks Delap just isn’t enjoying himself at all.

On the Football Xchange podcast, Deeney said, “He doesn’t look like he’s having any fun. It’s like he’s out there just trying to show the fans he cares by throwing his weight around. If he’d come up through a lower-league club, I’d get it—that’s what you do. But he’s from City, a top club; he knows how these teams are supposed to play. Maybe it’s injuries, maybe it’s the transfers, or something else off the pitch, but he just looks like he needs a break. He needs the summer to come, go off to Mykonos for a couple of weeks, and just clear his head. Right now, it all feels so heavy for him.”

Liam Rosenior stood by his cautious approach after Chelsea couldn’t overturn their first-leg deficit against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final.

Down 3-2 from the first match, Chelsea never really put Arsenal under pressure at the Emirates. In the end, Kai Havertz—of all people—put the game to bed in stoppage time, scoring against his old club.

Rosenior switched things up, going with a back three and playing it safe. He wanted to keep the game close and try to push hard late on. He brought on Cole Palmer and Estevao around the 60th minute, hoping for a spark, but Chelsea still couldn’t carve out real chances. Arsenal just wouldn’t budge.

Pundits didn’t love Rosenior’s tactics and let him know it. He brushed it off. “I’ve been a pundit. It’s easy. It’s easy in hindsight,” he said. “If I go all-out and press high, we could give away two early goals, and then everyone asks what I’m thinking. That’s just how it is. Lose, and you’re hammered. Win, and you’re a genius. Usually, it’s somewhere in the middle.”

Chelsea were up against the league leaders, and with both Reece James and Pedro Neto missing due to minor injuries, Rosenior planned to hang in there and try to frustrate Arsenal—and maybe turn the mood in the stadium.

“That was the idea. You saw it,” he said. “I thought the psychological side of the tie mattered, and you could feel it in the stadium too. At 60 minutes, I brought on Cole and Estevao, and suddenly we had some moments around the box. I think people sensed this game could flip.”

It didn’t happen, though. Rosenior said he couldn’t fault his players for their effort, and in the end, Arsenal’s clinching goal came while Chelsea were throwing everything forward, desperate to turn things around.