Southgate stepped down as manager last summer after their Euro 2024 final loss to Spain. A few months later, the former Chelsea boss took over.
"The way that opinion has either changed or reinforced is on how Thomas Tuchel does. If Thomas was to go on and be successful, win the World Cup, then all of a sudden Gareth wasn't good enough because we should have won the World Cup before," James told Prime Casino.
"If Thomas doesn't, then Gareth was great because Thomas couldn't do it. I think that's kind of... Everyone's on pause.
"I think he laid the groundwork, the foundations or the FA as well, to make England competitive and virtue of a couple of moments, which ultimately most sport is decided by, we're talking about an England side that still haven't won anything since ‘66.
"However, I think there's a belief we as fans expect realistically, rather than just expect because we had good players."
England's next match is away to Andorra on June 7 in their latest 2026 World Cup qualifier.