Since he moved to England a year ago, Romelu Lukaku has spent more time as the object of self-serving press reports than on the pitch, but he showed today exactly why Chelsea spent £19m on him.
In 28 minutes at White Hart Lane, he provided West Brom with the attacking platform they required, and changed the game. The high defensive line which Tottenham had enjoyed for the first hour dropped deeper, with Jan Vertonghen and William Gallas backing off the Belgian any time he was in possession. Lukaku bred the anxiety in the Spurs defence which Steve Clarke’s side eventually profited from – and it would be no surprise if he started next week at home to Everton; he clearly has the physicality and the pace to trouble Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin.
Obviously there’s more to Lukaku than just being a rough-and-tumble forward who can match-up with the bigger defensive bodies in the league, he can unsettle the ball-playing centre-halves equally as well. Before his introduction today, Vertonghen and Gallas were quite comfortable pushing up the pitch and involving themselves in the play – it was only after Lukaku entered the game that they began to retreat and look flustered in possession. With someone like the Belgian, it’s as much about the potential threat posed by such power and pace as it is what he actually contributes – it changes the mentality of the opposing defence and all the finesse goes out of their play.
If he can put together a reel of similar performances, then Fernando Torres will have a genuine rival for his place next season – regardless, in the short-term, what a fantastic option for West Brom to have this season and how nice to see him doing his talking with performances for a change.
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Thats fine, I’ll check in with you again! But a pretty woeful start and a team and squad that are badly unsettled at the moment
Two games Carl, come on…
Still, your early summer suggestion that removing Redknapp was a shrewd move is starting to look like the nonsense I told you at the time it would be. Two games, one point, no real cutting edge or verve and a disrupted team and squad. All that upheaval for a manager who is no better than the one he replaced. I hate to say I told you so – and granted we are two games in to the season – but…..