Lukaku offers tantalising glimpse into the future

I THINK we saw a glimpse of the new order at Chelsea in the final stages of the game on Saturday.

Lukaku has endeared himself to the Chelsea faithful already by his sheer enthusiasm and his love of the club.

In his younger days he vowed to play for Chelsea — he even held a mock press conference when visiting Stamford Bridge as a youngster pretending he had just been signed. The comparisons with Drogba are unavoidable – he is a big, strong, physically imposing striker (with dreadlocks!) but I think the characters are very different. Drogba has his amazing days when he is unplayable – and then he had his off days where he goes missing. I can’t imagine Lukaku having that latter attitude at any time. On Saturday he was confident, energetic and determined – it can only serve as a bit of a wake-up call because I think it demonstrated exactly what had been missing of late in the team.

And that is before we even get to Mata. Since the departure of Robben and Duff you will hear Chelsea fans bemoaning our lack of width. So it was hardly surprising that Mata got such a rapturous welcome when he made his debut late into the game. It’s not as if he is a worldwide name or comes with a huge reputation – all Chelsea fans needed to know was that he was winger – that was enough for them to go into rapturous overdrive and he didn’t disappoint. We immediately looked a more attacking team, the midfield immediately had an outlet and the strikers immediately had service. To cap it off, he showed nifty footwork and scored on his debut – you can’t ask for more!

The new players have arrived not a moment too soon as we have struggled and really have been fortunate not too have a worse start to the season. The team has looked lethargic but unlike most I do not think that our core players have had their day. I just think they need some younger players to complement their experience. I have read a lot recently about how slow John Terry has become – speed was never really an integral part of JT’s game though – his defensive awareness and pinpoint tackling were his strengths and as far as I am concerned – still are.

Lampard too has come in for a lot of criticism but the formation we have been playing has simply not allowed him to play his normal game. We were so used to seeing Lamps marauding up the middle with just his eye on goal but our game has become so narrow that he hasn’t been able to do that as it is just too crowded. Lampard’s future will depend on whether we get the likes of Modric and also how AVB ideally wants to set out the team, but as far as I am concerned there is no one better than him for Josh MceEachran use as a role model.

Hopefully the break will allow Drogba enough time to recover from his concussion. Even with Lukaku we need him fit as Anelka seems to be a hit and miss while huge questions surround Torres. Despite all his hard work, his good showing in pre-season and his vitality in the first few games, it just doesn’t seem to be happening for him. I think he has done well up to now to keep a positive attitude. I thought this changed Saturday – he seemed tetchy and ill disciplined. He lacked concentration and generally his body language was off. He also walked straight down the tunnel when substituted – for the first time since he signed. I’m beginning to worry whether he will do it for us.

*Trizia Fiorellino