Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said "good players should be able to play in any system" following criticism of his tactics in their defeat to Ajax in the Champions League.

Manchester City went down 3-1 to the Dutch side on Wednesday but Mancini has defended his managerial decisions in the fallout from the match.

"I am disappointed like all of my players but despite everything we played a bad game," said Mancini.

"Maybe now it is difficult to go through but we are having an important season. If you are a top player it is not important what system you use. If you don't understand a system like that, you cannot play for a top team."

City were leading 1-0 through a Samir Nasri goal before goals from Siem de Jong and Niklas Moisander swung the game in favour of the Dutch champions.

Mancini then changed his side's formation in a bid to rescue the Group D game.

"When you are losing 2-1 away, the manager should do something from the bench and we change because they play with only one striker and we wanted to have more players on the offensive.

"With this system we beat Chelsea 3-2 in the Charity Shield."

Despite the manager's change in tactics however, Ajax midfielder Christian Eriksen scored midway through the second half to seal a 3-1 victory and leave Manchester City at the bottom of Group D.