How Guardiola's tactics condemned City to Champions League exit

In a battle cry that could've come from Kevin Keegan 15 years ago as he steered a top-heavy Manchester City side to an easy promotion back into the top flight, Pep Guardiola pledged to attack AS Monaco in their Champions League last-16 second leg.

"Take the ball and attack as much as possible is the only way I know to beat this type of team," Guardiola said before Wednesday's bout, as quoted by the Guardian's Jamie Jackson. "If one team scores 123 goals and you are thinking about only defending for 90 minutes because we won one game 5-3, you kill yourself."

The formation laid out was the right one - the familiar 4-1-4-1 that converts into a 3-4-3 when in possession - but after nearly nine years of vast outlay and two transfer windows for Guardiola, his personnel were found wanting in a 3-1 loss which resulted in City's elimination on away goals.

Related: High-flying Monaco outguns Manchester City to reach quarter-finals

In the disastrous opening stanza, the exclusion of Yaya Toure from the starting lineup looked critical. Fabinho bossed the midfield - on this evidence, he looks a better buy than rumoured Manchester United target and scorer of the precious third, Tiemoue Bakayoko - and Fernandinho, despite dropping back well between the two centre-backs, looked tormented any time he attempted to stride beyond his defensive third. The foundations were minimal, and the expected frontline assault anonymous. City seemingly left the gunpowder in northwest England and made just 10 passes in the attacking third.

Surprisingly, however, the most uncomfortable player throughout was Kevin De Bruyne.

The Belgian hungrily pursues the ball with the fervour of a red-topped Jack Russell, but then dispatches it with the impatient panache and precision of snooker great Ronnie O'Sullivan. He's undoubtedly one of the best attack-minded midfielders in European football. Sometimes when he's hassled, though, his restlessness can give way to anxiety. The ball is pinged with more hope than thought, and in his desperation to address his shortcomings, he can dash waywardly - and, in this European exit, too close to Sergio Aguero. The gap between the advanced pair and their teammates was huge, and this was one of the poorest components of City's first half.

Guardiola has to understand De Bruyne's greatest traits. He was belatedly dropped deeper in the second half, and had a slightly better crack of things: He revived his knack of hitting instant diagonal balls into space to unleash Raheem Sterling, which led to a Leroy Sane goal that gave City a 6-5 lead on aggregate. Unfortunately, that lead held for merely six minutes.

The move was uncannily similar to De Bruyne's assist for Sterling against Arsenal in December, and shows what can happen when two No. 8s are fielded - just how Guardiola used Xavi and Andres Iniesta at Barcelona. In the opening period, Sane and Sterling were often deeper than De Bruyne. Why Guardiola decided this was a good idea isn't clear; it's not how things were set out over the previous 11 unbeaten outings.

"We wanted to defend aggressively," Guardiola told BBC Sport's Simon Stone post-match. "In the second half we were much better but it was not enough. We will learn."

Instead, Monaco was snappiest and the most committed in the midfield. For the rest of the season, De Bruyne and David Silva should look to become a cheap Xavi-Iniesta clone.

Silva's all-round contributions have allowed the Spaniard to slot into Guardiola's system much more easily. His work in the gaps deeper in the park makes him a valuable outlet, akin to Ossie Ardiles' role for Argentina at the 1978 World Cup. He can turn on a sixpence, pirouetting to gain a few half-yards before picking the right pass, helping sew the lines between Toure or, in Wednesday's case, Fernandinho. In attack, he's the subtler option to De Bruyne, and again twists and turns before floating chips to the widemen or probing forensic passes through the smallest backline openings. He suddenly ups the tempo - not necessarily by keeping his first touch close, but by diverting into a gap where he has more room to display his creativity.

Here, with Sane and Sterling practically alongside him for the first half, De Bruyne too far ahead, and Fernandinho being bullied, Guardiola extinguished the magic of Silva.

With this current midfield throng, Guardiola will have to get to the bottom of the De Bruyne conundrum if City can be successful on the continental stage. That, or he'll need to find a miraculous cure to Ilkay Gundogan's knee issues.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)