Chelsea's ambitious manager Jose Mourinho and his multi-million dollar side are promising better to come after setting one foot in the second round of the Champions League with two successive wins.
Mourinho and his two former Porto defenders Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira put sentiment aside to help their new team to a 3-1 win over the defending champions.
Wednesday's victory followed a 3-0 drubbing of Paris St Germain in their opening Group H game two weeks ago.
Chelsea can still improve, however, according to Mourinho.
"My ideal football is a bit different," he said. "When a team controls every second of play...then it is perfect.
"From a defensive point of view our team is really compact and strong. Even when the opposition has the ball you can feel safety in the defensive line."
The London side are unbeaten in nine league and European matches this season, conceding only twice, but goals have been lacking in the English Premier League. Chelsea have scored seven in seven domestic matches compared with six in the two Champions League outings.
Newspapers have dubbed Chelsea's tight defensive format dull though captain John Terry dismissed the criticism.
"Three points is all that matters to us at the moment," he said. "The fans want good football and that will come."
BEAUTIFUL GAME
Chelsea showed flashes of the beautiful game on Wednesday, particularly in the buildup to the first goal from Russia midfielder Alexei Smertin, worked skillfully between Didier Drogba, Damien Duff and Eidur Gudjohnsen.
The other two came from 24-million-pound striker Drogba and central defender Terry in superbly executed set pieces.
"I think you can see the way we are progressing," said England midfielder Frank Lampard, who set up Terry's goal. "I think we are developing very quickly.
"We are gelling as a team and as a squad and the new players have come in and because they have such quality they are adapting very quickly."
Before the game Mourinho said it was impossible to compare his Porto team of last season developed over two years, with Chelsea, which though packed with international talent, had been working together for only a few weeks.
He reserved praise for Chelsea's team spirit saying his big names were playing for the group -- the same sort of team spirit he managed to instill at Porto.
On Wednesday his new team's class showed through.
"There is a very positive feeling here about what we can achieve," Gudjohnsen said.
"The manager has done it before so he knows how to prepare better than anyone...We didn't play well just as individuals but as a team and I think we are becoming harder and harder to beat."
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