22 January 2024 , 11:51
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Lauren James confirmed she is, indeed, silencing haters.
Not in the way that people silencing haters generally do: full of bluster and swagger, in your face with no lack of provocative flair. After finishing off Manchester United with a hat-trick - her second successive such feat at Stamford Bridge, the first-ever against United in the Women's Super League - James confirmed her silencing in the same way one might confirm the scoreline: laconic and pomp-less. An agreeable fact. Like grass being green or the wind being windy.
"Yes for sure [it was nice to silence them]," she told BBC Sport after the game. "But for me it's just about focusing on what I can do and silencing anyone who is hating as well. I've got to focus on myself and helping the team."
James is a delightful paradox: a footballer of epic and ever-expanding quality whose off-pitch personality can feel in direct conflict with the on-pitch given how little relish she seems to have for the spotlight.
On Sunday, on a stage she has come to savour as much as define, the spotlight was firmly on James. A Chelsea side that seemed at times to be playing teasingly with their visitors very nearly lost control after Hayley Ladd supplied a lifeline for United just before the interval.
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But three moments of pure quality from James ultimately left United 10 points adrift of the league leaders and their title hopes in tatters. There are margins, and there is Lauren James.
And Chelsea, as they bid to find the means to replace Sam Kerr after the Australian striker suffered an ACL injury earlier this month, will need this vein of James, who is now the team's top league scorer with 10 goals in 10 games.
The former United player was booed from the travelling supporters inside the game's opening minute as she schlepped to take an early corner. On the BBC's coverage, James could be see grinning to herself. So too were her team-mates.
Hindsight is a tantalising thing, but perhaps foresight is too. Within a few minutes, James would be celebrating directly in front of the booing crowd, her grin doubled, their rebukes hushed.
Manager Emma Hayes was full of praise for her forward, hailing her as a "genius footballer" for stepping up in Kerr's absence, but there is also something to be said for fortitude and resilience. Before the winter break, James was subject to online abuse following Chelsea's 4-1 loss to Arsenal, in which a moment of petulance from the 22-year-old made her a target for opposition fans.
Lauren James scores Chelsea's first goal of the game ((Photo by Harriet Lander - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images))The territory is not new for James, but seeing a player of such stellar aptitude overcome and eclipse those moments to emerge on the opposite side represents a clear marker in trajectory.
How Chelsea proceed this season without Kerr in their ranks will remain a major talking point. The Blues are the only English team still competing on all fronts. With the clock on Hayes' final season at the club ever ticking away, the desire to supply every piece of silverware under the sun remains strong.
Hayes lauded what she deemed one of her side's best performances of the season, and the first half certainly attested to that. With Mia Fishel leading the line and James operating in the No.10 behind the American forward, Chelsea relished a degree of control and focus that had been missing in the first half against West Ham in the FA Cup fourth round.
Erin Cuthbert's work rate and quality on the ball in the middle of the park provided the Blues with further dominance. New signing Nathalie Bjorn demonstrated the savvy of her signing with a delightful assist for James' second, while the calm evinced on the ball by the former Everton defender was imperative as United's forward line looked to apply pressure in the second half and force Chelsea's shaky backline into errors.
Lauren James scored her second with an exquisite finish on the half-volley (Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)But the carte blanche afforded James to drop deep or make clever runs in behind United defence was crucial to Chelsea's first-half superiority.
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James' influence was conspicuously quieter in the second-half as she was called into the No.9 position, but when required to step up, James did so, slotting home Chelsea's third with the nonchalance that has become her calling card.
"Everybody has to take their turns," Hayes said when asked about how they can replace Kerr. "Lauren took that today for the team.
"I was impressed with her whole performance. I thought she carried out the gameplan and her role in that gameplan to perfection. I've never seen a player like Lauren do the things she does individually.
"That was Lauren at her best today. She took responsibility in that area of the pitch in a way that the team needed. It was a real team effort that allowed LJ to thrive.
"There are a lot of complexities with Lauren but she is a genius footballer and I'm happy for her.
"She wanted to demonstrate in front of the home fans that she can step forward. She showed that she can do it as a ten and a nine in the second half. Her hold-up play is unbelievable."