The Blues fired in an incredible 37 shots against Red Star Belgrade, 15 of which are on target – and that’s on the back having 29 shots against West Ham, again with 15 on target.
So, with 66 shots in two matches, 30 on target, former City keeper James says upcoming opponents should be afraid.
CITY 3-1 RED STAR | MATCH STATS AND REACTION
“We all suggested this would be a one-sided game, but though final scoreline didn’t reflect our predictions, the performance definitely did,” said James.
“It was similar to the game against West Ham - though not as good - in that if we had scored seven or eight, nobody would have been surprised.
“These are the sort of performances that will have Nottingham Forest and Newcastle going, ‘hang on a minute, the goalkeepers have made 25-plus saves in the last two games against City - what are we going to have to do to stop them creating that many chances?’
“And that’s not even including the shots that didn’t hit the target. It’s been a pretty good start for City.”
Steph Houghton believes winning the first Champions League match was crucial, even if it wasn’t as polished a performance as we have become used to in recent years.
The Manchester City Women skipper believes Pep Guardiola will be happy but will expect a higher bar in future group stage games.
“The win is the most important thing - obviously we would have liked to see more goals and we created enough chances to score more goals,” said Houghton.
“I think Pep will be happy with the three points, but at the same time we know we can produce a lot better in terms of the performance, because we were a bit sloppy at times in with some of our passing and we gave too many transitions away.
“But to get a win in our first Champions League group stage game is important and I think an overall, good performance, we’ve got to be happy.”
Steve Howey was particularly impressed with the performance of Julian Alvarez and the way he took his all-important first goal.
“Alvarez picked the ball up and does ever so well and he turns on and finds his partner straight away,” said Howey.
“We know how strong Haaland is and he holds it up well and then plays a clever reverse pass back to Alvarez who does ever so well .
“He had to get that first touch right or he would have run it out of play - but it’s so good and he takes it around the keeper and he is then so quick with his feet to put it in the net. It was absolutely spot-on.
“And Rodri’s goal was excellent. We had so many chances in the first half and the lads were all trying to hit the ball so hard and it just goes to show, you don’t have to because he just caressed the ball in and you could have put two keepers in there and they wouldn’t have saved it!”
James added: “The quality of that finish was superb, and he didn’t smash it - he just passed it into the corner and everything about it was quality.”
