Friday 17 March 2017 00:42, UK
Gael Clichy has revealed the Manchester City players strayed too far from Pep Guardiola's tactics as they exited the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The left-back says City's players are to blame for the club's European demise and not Guardiola, who has been criticised for his determination to build on the 5-3 advantage established in the first leg by attacking rather than looking to sit back.
It was an approach that was understandable given the brittle nature of City's defence but it backfired as Monaco established complete control early on, scoring twice in the opening half-hour and eventually winning 3-1 to progress from the last-16 tie on away goals.
Left-back Clichy, however, felt it was the players who were to blame for not carrying out instructions.
The Frenchman said: "He never told us to play deep, so of course we have to take responsibility for that.
"Since he took over at the club his philosophy is to go forward, to press the team we're playing, to win the ball high up the field and then pass the ball to a player who can be creative and make something happen and we just didn't do it.
"Willy (Caballero) made a great save in the first eight minutes and I just felt that first part of the game set the momentum, and it was not for us. We tried to react but they have quality and we suffered.
"We came back strongly in the second half and could have killed the game with those three or four chances in 20 minutes but we didn't do it.
"It's a big disappointment. When we play like the manager wants we can create problems for any team and if we'd started the game like we did the second half it could have been different.
"But we have to look forward to Liverpool [on Sunday] now because the season is not finished. We can win something still this year so we have to believe and finish strongly."
