‘I’m proud of them today’ – Chelsea boss Hayes reacts to victory over Manchester United | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has labelled her side’s 3-1 victory over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge as ‘the best performance of the season’.

The Blues solidified their position at the top of the Barclays Women’s Super League table following their win against The Red Devils. Lauren James again grabbed the headlines with another Stamford Bridge hat-trick.

When speaking to the media in the post-match press conference, Hayes labelled the performance as ‘The Chelsea standard’.

“I thought today was our best performance of the season, it looked like the standard that we’ve set,” Hayes said. “It was brave, that included the selection, but I’m proud of them today.”

Forward James was electric in today’s victory, finding herself her second consecutive Barclays Women’s Super League hat-trick at Stamford Bridge. Hayes reflected on the youngster’s spectacular performance with high praise.

She said “I was impressed with her whole performance, to focus on merely those qualities [her goals] will set it short. I thought she carried out the game plan and her role in that game plan to perfection. It changed in the second half with Mia [Fishel] coming out, but I thought she did that equally as well.

“She’s shown her qualities as a nine or a 10 and her finishing was second-to-none. I’ve never seen a player like Lauren do the things that she does individually.”

Hannah Hampton made her second league appearance for Chelsea in today’s line-up, a surprise selection as the England international has been patiently waiting for her turn to gain Hayes’s attention. Hayes went on to discuss her decision and what she made of Hampton’s performance.

She said “I’m not one to make safe decisions in life, even on my way out, I’m not going to do it. I believe in putting the best XI out, no matter what anybody says, and I know that based on the training, the games, the direction I think the game is going in.

“Without having a stretch nine, I knew they [Manchester United] were going to be aggressive, so I wanted to solve the press a different way. Hannah gave us a different option because without Sam [Kerr] who is able to run a little bit longer, we have to find a different way. I knew we had to have composure in the deepest space, Hannah is the best goalkeeper at those things. She is the best build-up goalkeeper of the three of them.”

Chelsea are back in action at Stamford Bridge this Wednesday evening when they host Real Madrid in their final group stage fixture in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.