Chelsea cruise through to Carabao Cup final with big Boro win

Carabao Cup, semi-final, second leg

CHELSEA 6 (Howson og 15, Fernandes 28, Disasi 36, Palmer 42, 77, Madueke 80)

MIDDLESBROUGH 1 (Rogers 88)

Chelsea win (6-2 on aggregate)

Chelsea cruised through to the Carabao Cup final courtesy of an object – or should that be abject - lesson in how not to defend by Michael Carrick's callow Middlesbrough side.

Whatever jeopardy lurked in this tie for Chelsea, who were trailing 1-0 from last week's first leg, disappeared in a disastrous first half half-hour, during which Boro's defenders demonstrated the dangers of persisting with a pattern of playing out from the back when it is patently not possible.

By the end it was a thrashing, the biggest winning margin in the second leg of a league cup semi-final, and Chelsea fans can start dreaming of silverware.

Boro had started brightly, however, holding off Chelsea for the opening 15 minutes to the extent that Mauricio Pochettino was going potty on the touchline, berating his players for failing to create chances.

But then Boro shot themselves in the foot by giving the ball away cheaply in their own half to concede the first goal, and then repeated the same mistake three more times before half-time, by which the erstwhile quiet Chelsea supporters were singing “We're going to Wembley.”

Carrick was schooled in the finest football traditions of West Ham, Tottenham and Manchester United as a cultured midfielder who rarely gave away possession.

And admirable as it is that he has moulded a side in his image, trying to progress upfield by playing neat passing football, at some time pragmatism should dictate that it is not the best approach to take on a wet and windy night in west London against a club that has spent over a billion Euros on