Lauren James is England's biggest talent since Kelly Smith and has potential to 'blow everybody away' - Lucy Ward

Lucy Ward believes Lauren James is England’s "biggest talent since Kelly Smith” and thinks the Chelsea star has the potential to "blow everybody away in the world”.

Chelsea forward James came on as a second-half substitute as England won their opening game at the tournament 1-0 against Haiti.

Manager Sarina Wiegman said afterwards that England were “missing ruthlessness” as their scoring struggles continued.

They have now not found the net from open play in 337 minutes, with their goal against Haiti coming from the penalty spot.

Former Leeds forward Ward suggested James could make a difference and compared her to England legend Smith, who scored 46 goals in 117 international appearances.

“I think Lauren James made a difference when she came on against Haiti,” Ward told TNT Sports.

“I think she is the biggest talent that we've had since Kelly Smith. But I also think that she plays within herself quite a lot. I think that if she really went 100 per cent of what she's capable of, she would just blow everybody away in the world, even at this stage.

“So I always want more from her because she's so talented. But I think she showed what she's all about. She's still a young player, she's still improving.”

England will look to make it two wins from two in Group D when they face Denmark on Friday.

Along with James, forward Rachel Daly will also be pushing for a starting spot after Alessia Russo was preferred for the opening game.

Ward said she would side with Daly, who was top scorer in the Women’s Super League last season.

“At the moment I prefer Rachel Daly because she had a great season. She scores goals and I think she’s the nearest we have to [former England forward] Ellen White in terms of staying between the goal and being quite disciplined and getting on the end of crosses.

“But I understand why Sarina Wiegman played Russo, because of the relationship with [former Manchester United team-mate] Ella Toone, but I don’t think it quite worked. That's not to say that it won't work out later on in the World Cup and I think history tells us that Wiegman tends to be consistent - because I think that's what she thinks will build performances, and build connections."

Even though England’s win against Haiti was not as comprehensive as might have been expected, Ward drew comparisons with the opening game at Euro 2022.

That too was a 1-0 victory for England and they went on to win the tournament.

“I think the game was similar to the first game of the Euros, which nobody remembers now, but everybody reacted the same to it,” said Ward.

“There's one or two things that could be better. But I'm quite positive about the way that Sarina runs the team and the squad.

“They will look at the performance, but if your best performance is in the first group game then you're never going to win a World Cup."

England’s chances of success in Australia and New Zealand have been damaged by injuries to several key players.

Leah Williamson, who captained England to victory at the Euros last summer, and Beth Mead, who was top scorer at the tournament, are both absent, along with forward Fran Kirby.

“I think the missing players has had an effect,” added Ward.

“It's such a big difference from the squad from last year at the Euros on so many levels. I'm talking experienced players, you’ve got Jill Scott missing, Ellen White, Beth Mead with the goals, you've got the injuries, Fran Kirby is so talented, I don't think you realise how good she is until she's not in the team. And I think we are lacking in a really, really experienced core.

“I don’t really understand why Steph Houghton didn’t go, just because of that added experience, because you spend most of your time not on the pitch, so you want to create an atmosphere where it's actually quite relaxed people and the team don't get carried away with worrying about things.

“I think that experience is missing through not having Ellen White and Jill Scott.

“The squad is totally different and is sort of in transition with younger players coming in. They had the experience from last year at the Euros but a lot of those players were impact players who came on and did really well and now they have to step up.”

With the Women’s World Cup almost a week old, all teams have played at least once.

Reflecting on the top contenders at the moment, Ward said: “I like the look of Japan, they are always organised and technically very good. They played some wonderful stuff in their first game.

“Spain, similar sort of thing, and Germany, they started off well. I think they've been indifferent leading up to the World Cup in terms of their performances and then they come in and perform like that in their first game [win 6-0 against Morocco].

“And then Brazil, they were very impressive, even though Panama are obviously at a completely different stage of the World Cup journey.

“I also think there's lots of quality. I look at the teams that everybody was complaining about when they expanded it and saying there’s going to be really one-sided games, but I don't think that's worked out as expected, and I'm really pleased about that.

“There have been some big scorelines, but I don't think it's been as one-sided as we've expected with some of the teams like Haiti, Philippines, Vietnam and New Zealand.

“I think that it's been a lot closer than what people thought, but the favourites are starting to appear, as well.”

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