Paul Merson was shocked by Chelsea’s performance in their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.

The Gunners sealed a 1-0 victory thanks to Kai Havertz’s breakthrough goal in stoppage time and secured a 4-2 aggregate victory to advance to the Carabao Cup final.

After a thrilling first leg in which they scored five goals at Stamford Bridge, Liam Roney’s side needed a goal to take the game into extra-time and they adopted a conservative approach to keep the game tight heading into the final stages but put little pressure on Arsenal.

Chelsea had 14 shots on goal, but only 2 were on target, and their expected goals against was just 0.68.

Merson said: “I was stunned. I couldn’t believe what I just saw. Chelsea are not a team in the bottom five. They have a World Cup winner.

“(Wesley) Fofana is crying. He should be crying because they never tried. They went out whimpering in the semifinals. It didn’t work. Go out with glory, don’t go out like this.”

“They’re playing in second gear. It’s the semi-finals of the cup.

“Chelsea have had players mix it up with Arsenal. But they didn’t try. If they lost 3-0 but had shot after shot and Kepa[Arrizabalaga]was brilliant and they were scored three times, that would be it.

“I’ve been in games where when you come off the field you think we just got beat and didn’t really make a difference.”

Redknapp: You have to try it!

Jamie Redknapp, Sky Sports:

“If you turned up today and didn’t know the score, you would think Chelsea won, they played cautiously with a back six and tried to counterattack if possible.

“I totally understand his plan, but at a certain point you have to be emotionally involved in the fight. It’s a semi-final and you have to throw punches.

“Two shots on target in a semi-final is not good enough. It’s an over-thinking tactic and you have to try it.”

“The last two or three minutes of that game were a good example of how Chelsea didn’t know.

“(Alejandro) Ganaccio played 15 to 20 minutes. Every time he received the ball, he passed the ball backwards and sideways.”

Rosenior: I’ve always been an expert and it’s easy in hindsight

Chelsea boss Ronnie Orr has hit back at criticism of his approach.

He said: “I’ve always been a specialist and in hindsight it’s easy. If I went to attack the game and apply high pressure, people would ask me what I was doing.

“You can play away from home, press full court, man-to-man defense and you could be 2-0 up or you could be 2-0 down.

“I think the mental aspect of this game is also very important. At sixty minutes, I brought on Cole (Palmer) and Estevo and the game started and we had chances in and around the penalty area.

“I think there was a feeling on the pitch that this game could turn around. We didn’t get where we wanted to but it wasn’t a question of the game plan, it was a question of the result.

“I have to give a lot of credit to our players because they put a lot of work into the game and at the end of the day, when we threw the kitchen sink into the game, their goals came through. It’s going to happen but we have to make sure we take the positives out of it, but we’re here to get results.

“The reality of my job is that if you lose a game, you’re criticized. If you win, you’re a genius. Usually, I think, it’s somewhere in between.”