James, along with Manchester City Women skipper Steph Houghton and former Blues favourite Nedum Onuoha, dissected our 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid in the final match of the Asian Tour on the post-match section of Matchday Live.
And James says the defeat in Seoul will be quickly forgotten.
“Of course you want to win - charity matches, friendlies, you always want to win them,” said James.
“That said, we weren’t up against a sub-standard team - Atletico Madrid habitually finish in the top three of La Liga and have some very good players and give them half a chance, they will punish you - which they did.
“Their substitutions worked better for then whereas our changes disrupted our rhythm.
“So yes, the players will be disappointed to lose because they are winners - but it is pre-season, and that disappointment shouldn’t last long at all.
“Now the focus will be on Arsenal and when you are playing at Wembley for a trophy, things are very different and I’m sure Pep has a plan for that game and for the whole season.”
Houghton echoed James’ feelings, focusing on the positives of a tough workout against the Spaniards as well as believing Arsenal will be a string challenger for the Premier League title this season.
“I think they will be disappointed because knowing that group of players, they will want to win every game because that’s the culture and the standard they’ve set over these last few seasons,” said Houghton.
“But you have to look beyond the result because a lot of the players now have more minutes in their legs.
“Ruben Dias and Julian Alvarez played 90 minutes which is good because it was very humid and hot in Seoul, but they were up against a very good Atletico Madrid side who were very competitive, physical, and organised.
“It’s not always the best thing to sail through pre-season, win all the games and peak too soon - there is a reality of understanding and accepting that, ‘ok, this is where we are right now - let’s get back to Manchester and start preparing for the Community Shield.’
“I think Arsenal will be City’s toughest opponent this season and they’ve strengthened well with players like Declan Rice coming in, so I think they will be better, and they will have that experience of a title race under their belts.
“But I still fully believe in this City team because we are also only going to get better, and our younger players now have the experience of winning three major trophies under intense pressure.”
Onuoha believes City will steadily click into gear rather than race out of the blocks.
The former central defender expects Pep Guardiola’s side to slowly build momentum – and says that has been the case over the past four or five incredibly successful seasons.
“We’re not at our best just yet and I’d be worried if we were,” he said.
“But as we’ve seen over the years, City will just get better and better and better.
“Some teams start really well and just implode, but that’s not what City do and I expect that to be the case again this season.”
