Ferran Torres scored in the first half to give Manchester City the lead at Marseille before Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling found the back of the net in the last quarter to cap off a comfortable win for the Premier League side.
Villas-Boas adapted a defensive system with five at the back, with three centre-backs, and has come in for criticism for being too negative at home in the Champions League.
The Marseille coach insisted that he played that system in order to have more control in defence, but conceded that his team gave away possession too easily to bring about their own downfall.
He insisted that he came in for criticism for being too adventurous in a game against Paris Saint-Germain and pointed out that Manchester City are miles ahead of Marseille when it comes to money and squad strength.
The Marseille coach stressed that with the resources at his disposal, he could not have done much more against a team of Manchester City’s quality.
Villas-Boas was quoted as saying by French sports daily L’Equipe: “The teams play five against City because City control the game and width, and with five you can control the width better.
“We chose the system to control the width, but we lost the ball too easily and they had aggressive pressing.
“When I tried something different against a team of this level [PSG], we lost 4-0 [in October 2019] and you massacred me.
“Do not abuse, City are City.
“They have spent a billion, they play well and their coach is a phenomenon who plays possession football.
“Marseille have no money to bring Guardiola here, unfortunately, you have AVB with his tactics.”
Marseille have lost their opening two games in Group C and are now facing an uphill task in their ambition to qualify for the last 16.
