Rio Ferdinand believes Romelu Lukaku’s hold-up play away from goal still needs to improve after his impressive display against Arsenal at the weekend.
Chelsea have made a huge statement of intent by re-signing Lukaku in a £97.5m deal from Inter this month and the player has made an immediate impact with a good performance in the 2-0 victory against the Gunners on Sunday.
Lukaku scored Chelsea’s opening goal and gave Arsenal centre-back Pablo Mari a torrid time throughout the entire game.
Ferdinand branded Mari’s attempts to control Lukaku an ’embarrassment’ and even criticised Arsenal’s methods in dealing with the Chelsea striker.
But the former Manchester United defender is excited by the prospect of Lukaku’s battle with Van Dijk this weekend as the Blues face Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday.
‘I still think Lukaku’s hold-up play outside of the box sometimes leaves a bit to be desired,’ Ferdinand said on Vibe with FIVE. ‘But when you play the ball into him in and around the box, my man’s touch is like glue.
‘He bullies people, he was like a sixth former playing against first years, that’s what he made the Arsenal centre-backs look like, they didn’t know how to deal with him.
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‘[Pablo] Mari was an embarrassment, he didn’t know what to do. ‘The way they defended against him… where’s Per Mertesacker or someone like that who’s in the building? Please tell them what to do.
‘Before the game starts you tell them, ‘do not get into a physical battle with him, sometimes let him have a touch of the ball then you hit him, if you let him grip you he’s going to roll you and control the whole situation’.
‘He could’ve scored three or four goals if the ball had bounced right.
‘It’ll be interesting next week when we see him against [Virgil] Van Dijk, someone who can handle physically, someone who will match him set for step for pace, and who’s cute, who’s an intelligent defender.’
