Manchester City central defender John Stones feels his side weren’t "clinical" enough to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
City exited the competition on away goals after their 3-1 loss to Monaco on Wednesday night, with Tiemoué Bakayoko’s late header proving the difference.
Kylian Mbappé and Fabinho’s first-half goals had given Monaco the advantage before Leroy Sané looked to have done enough to take Pep Guardiola’s side to the last eight.
We weren’t ‘clinical’ enough – Stones
"We were very sloppy – not up to our standard in the first half." Stones admitted.
He added: "We wanted to correct that but we weren’t clinical enough in both boxes. We didn’t score enough and weren’t defensively solid enough."
The England international felt that "the second-half didn’t reflect the whole scoreline" but continued: "We were the City [that] people know from this season. We should have scored more. It is a difficult one for us to take. We should have done better and deserve to be in the next round."
City defensively weak
After conceding three goals in each leg Guardiola’s side have come under criticism for their defensive displays – a criticism that has been constant since the Spaniards arrival.
Bakayoko’s header 12 minutes from time came from a set-piece and City centre-back Stones feels they should have been better prepared.
He declared: "The gaffer was saying before that the more and more he plays the Champions League it is about the set pieces. Real Madrid scored from two last week and went through. We weren’t solid enough."
Aleksander Kolarov played in the centre of defence as he has on multiple occasions this season while Guardiola picked just one defence-orientated midfielder in Fernandinho.
Vincent Kompany, who has struggled with injuries this season, missed the game.
Chances spurned for City
Stones eluded to City not being "clinical" enough in either area but they weren’t short of chances in their 3-1 defeat.
Sergio Agüero had a one-on-one effort saved by Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subašić as well as Raheem Sterling misplacing a pass to the Argentine when the goal was looming.
Sane, who scored Manchester City’s only goal, also had two chances which he could have done better with. City have been a force this season going forward, however their failure to take chances against Monaco proved fatal.
