It's a sad state of a affairs if the press, who are known manipulators, are allowed to have any effect on any football association's decision making.
Playing a high line and taking a foul/card to stop a counter, there's nothing new about that at all. Liverpool do it, Spurs do it, any team that plays similar football do it just as much.That's not something Pep has invented and they know it. It sounds so petty, like they are trying to make out the only reason we dominate teams is because we foul. In actual fact teams get away with way too many fouls against City(foul on Rodri for Wolves' second for example). There is also the fact that of course, when teams don't attempt to press us at all and don't attempt tackles as they park the bus, they can hardly foul can they?
That happens because we're the ones with the ball and they can't get near it most of the time, their arguments defy simple logic. On top of that, the stats are skewed from the off because they go off when the whistle is blown. That suggests the ref catches every foul on City and every foul he gives against is always a foul. We all know that's not the case. Bernardo Silva's "foul" against Spurs being the most blatant stat skewer you'll ever see. The ref was shit for us that game he gave 14 fouls against City and only 4 against Spurs, we may have battered them that game but not in a fouling sense, it was just poor refereeing. I still remember the loud sarcastic cheer when he finally had to give a free kick to KDB in the second half and we were the home team lets not forget.
We win the ball back fast because our team is normally one of the best teams at pressing, to deny that would be deluded. Fouls that come in that phase are not tactical fouls, they are just fouls which happen in every game in every league, when a player attempts a tackle. That's my main issue with the tactical foul bullshit.
We had them encouraging leg breakers in Pep's first season "Teams need to stick their foot in to let them know they are there, they're giving them too much respect." cue 7 red card challenges in succession without a single red card if I remember right. Where was their interest in that? Nowhere to be seen. The bias has reached ridiculous levels, even blues are beginning to be brainwashed by our sports media and giving them an ounce of credence(wake up).
There's no point in getting on Rodri's back too much about this because they've been spinning this bullshit tale far before he joined City. Perhaps the players should be briefed about the bullshit angles the press are coming from though. They lay these traps while acting friendly and will readily take things out of context if need be. Now we'll have to put up with braindead scousers claiming "see Rodri confirmed it... tactical foul, cheats la". Even though he didn't.
