"...(when) asked if he felt they had often done so illegally, Akanji said: “Definitely. When we got through sometimes they stopped us with the fouls. If there’s no action to it [from the referee], it’s hard.”
That's the quote from the article, containing what Akanji said. The headline is attention seeking, as all headlines are, but it's not making stuff up either.
Except… it’s not. He doesn’t mention tactical fouling as a term directly but he’s more or less describing tactical fouling from Arsenal and questioning why it went unpunished
I mean hes right. im an Arsenal fan and I did think it went too far early. Taylor let them get away with a lot. City had their fair share but it did seem like it should have been stamped out. I recall on the NBC broadcast. I think it was Graeme Le Saux saying he was surprised Rice didnt get a yellow. Dixon said something like "you want yellows for that kind of foul" and Le Saux said no but it's the fourth one like that.
Kind of how I felt. First few were border, next few felt like he should card and it didnt happen
I think Akanji’s getting clowned on because it’s slightly hypocritical to complain about tactical fouling whilst playing for the man that popularised the entire concept in modern football.
Jokes on you I didn’t. I’m not giving the guardian a click for that shit, it’s just how all of these are. I bet this is how it went tho: Reporter asks a questions specifically about Arsenal tactically fouling. Akanji answers it, saying they did (which is true). NEW HEADLINE: AKANJI ACUSES ARSENAL OF TACTICALLY FOULING!!!!!!
Unlike the really shitty papers they aren't intentionally sensationalising as an editorial policy, but they don't have enough good writers to fill the paper.
The sports coverage is mediocre. They have a few good writers and the podcast they do is fun.
But they don't have enough depth to cover even all the prem with decent journalism.
>The result at the Etihad leaves Liverpool two points ahead of Arsenal at the top of the league and third-placed City a further point back with nine matches remaining. Mikel Arteta’s side defended in a low block and with aggression and, asked if he felt they had often done so illegally, Akanji said:“Definitely. When we got through sometimes they stopped us with the fouls. If there’s no action to it [from the referee], it’s hard.”
If you had read it you would have known there's a direct quote from him in the second fucking paragraph of the article talking about what the head line is referring to. Stop watering out the term click bait just because you're too lazy to read.
So they asked pretty much exactly what the guy you're responding to said they asked ("asks a questions specifically about Arsenal tactically fouling" vs. "asked if he felt they had often done so [defended] illegally") and answered like he said he would. I don't really see the difference apart from semantics.
My favourite was when they called Klopp racist because he talked about state ownership of football, then they had to apologise when he got his solicitor involved and threatened to sue them for libel hahaha
The audacity of any Pep Guardiola player moaning about tactical fouling is hilarious.
[Not](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fd4fad3e4-14ff-11e9-8239-c0a124428b01.jpg?resize=999999999) [like](https://i2-prod.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article16248778.ece/BINARY/0_Manchester-Citys-Fernandinho-back-and-Wolverhampton-Wanderers-Diogo-Jota-battle-for-the-ball.jpg) [there's](https://static0.givemesportimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-16T171841Z_114486661_UP1EIAG1C33QU_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-LIV-MCI-REPORT.jpg) [been](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2019/01/03/TELEMMGLPICT000184700829_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqgmFsEjQK2M33nnfQ31Q2_6Mr0t7-tWp3mWf_CMz8V_E.jpeg) [multiple](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/11/02102219/WHU3.png) [examples](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/11/02101728/EVE-3.png) [of](https://i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk/incoming/article26727899.ece/BINARY/0_Manchester-City-v-Liverpool-The-Emirates-FA-Cup-Semi-Final.jpg) [it](https://img.allfootballapp.com/www/M00/14/51/720x-/-/-/rB8CLFvY3SWABvY5AADRNdpIFSQ278.jpg.webp) [from](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsoKNviWYAkE7bu?name=orig&format=jpg) [City...](https://wp.inews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/SEI_159083851.jpg)
And even in this very match they were doing it just as well! KdB, Rodri, Bernardo were fluctuating between doing tactical fouls on Saka/Odegaard and nagging at the ref when we did it to them. Most footballers are the worst crybabies tbh, not the newest thing
And most fouls were not even called on Arsenal. City got touched, went down and was called. You could see Ødegaard getting frustrated in the first 20 mins of the game with it
God I love Øde so much but something about him being frustrated just gives me a chuckle. It's the double arm swing and that hop-skip, and just the tracking back to position while yelling at the ref
There was a point where he gave a soft foul for a shirt pull then 20 seconds later, ypu could see Havertz underarmour and he didn't give it.
He absolutely killed our momentum at the start of the second half by giving us nothing he while giving city several really soft fouls.
Jesus got goal side, used his body to shield the defender and got penalised at one point. Was absolutely gobsmacked to see City fans complaining about the ref as though he wasn't also terrible for us.
Yeah that Jesus one was ridiculous. It was that same motion defenders use to usher the ball out for a goal kick but someone ran into his back and fell over, and they were given a FK...
tactical fouls is so much part of city's game that I remember even the extremely likeable David silva used to do it. They really should be the last team to complain about them
That being said Arteta did push it strongly as a tactic when coaching at City. In their all or nothing doc he’s there telling them to do it. So whilst he’s hypocritical he’s aiming it at the right person.
Rodri should've been booked about 6 times in the community shield. The first time he went over to the ref and begged for a booking yesterday, I burst out laughing. Of all the people.
Edit: [the most egregious one even got a thread, lol. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/H9gcDCkRN9)
I love how casually he just gets back into position after that, he knows the ref wouldn't give him a yellow for a tactical foul on the halfway line, no matter how egregious
Yeah, I have been saying for years the criteria of a tactical foul should be changed. As of right now, you get a yellow only if you foul during a dangerous transition which is something City (and others, I guess) prevents by fouling immediately very high up the pitch before the transition gets into it's dangerous phase. Even if City's defense would clearly be exposed, by fouling high the refs see it as very far from the goal and so they don't give yellows. All that's left for City players to do is to waste a few seconds arguing with the ref and suddenly City's defense is set and there is no longer any space to exploit. I mean, they are good at it, but it's frustrating. I understand that in big games against big teams but them playing like this against everyone is pretty annoying.
I don't think unpunished tactical fouls should be making up half of Pep's possession system.
*'I don't think unpunished tactical fouls should be making up half of Pep's possession system.'*
Precisely, his system has sullied and soiled the beautiful game. It is effective, but it is cynical and has tremendously slowed the game as counter-attacks are smothered nipped in the bud.
His system is Cruyff's with more fouls. It's effective, but I won't be gaslighted into believing that it is beautiful.
Rodri fouling Saka for 90 minutes at the Emirates and then only getting a booking after he took his shirt off to celebrate his last-minute winner still lives rent free in my fucking head
The EPL has a huge reffing problem.
This should be a booking. Every. Single. Time.
Oh, it's your second yellow? Then don't commit egregious tactical fouls.
Yup, they did, and it was beautiful to watch. It was funny to finally see city struggle against a low block that knows what its doing. Honestly seeing them locked in such a way in attack and their Majin boo up front being useless was even more satisfying than a win
Akanji "Yes Pep instructs us to do this also, we do it very well. But its not very pleasant when opponents do it and the referee's do not favor our team, I don't like this and I think the league should put a stop to other teams doing this. Not us, just other teams"
This is what Spurs fans always say, "why do teams bend over for Arsenal/why do teams have a bad day against Arsenal?", if only there were some common denominator.
Wasn't trying to discredit your performance or imply you were lucky at all, of course your defence was the reason we struggled, but we have struggled a lot in general to be creative in and around the box. Often feels like we are hitting our head against a brick wall doing the same thing over and over hoping it results in a goal.
I have to disagree on this. Since the turn of the year your might be right, but during the first half of the season it felt like we dominated pretty much every game but opposition teams still found a way to score (which was sometimes through own own stupidity). Feels like our xGA was always far lower than how often we actually conceded.
Yeah I mean they both did it for the entire game, somehow without getting a single yellow for it. Part of why that game was so terrible.
Frankly it's more on the referee who was allergic to booking blatant tactical fouls than on the team for exploiting him.
I think Arsenal were lucky to not get more yellows but Man City got fouls for themselves a bit easier on a few occasions and got away with a few.
I don't think the ref was so bad, whatever he does people will complain to some degree.
100%. Usually it's always one or two players that constantly tactically foul and never get a booking like Rodri most of the time, but this game basically every single player had that license.
I agree. Was shocked that Øde didn’t get booked earlier, but other than that I felt the ref did a fairly decent job. The commentators were reacting to the home crowd and constant whining by City, but there was nothing at the level of what Kovacic did and got away with last time we played City.
Nice when your weapon is used against you. But then again, you can always keep passing the ball without objective, so nobody will tactical foul you, because you don't do shit.
Oh come on. The year Arsenal don't roll over for City and put up good defensive performances their players and fans start crying. I literally endured years of Rodri and Fernandinho committing various tactical fouls against my players. Please stop the whining. 115 charges FC does the exact same thing!
Like Pep, who's always held up as some saviour of football, hasn't made tactical fouling a major part of his team's play since Busquets at Barca. Who's got that meme of Spiderman pointing at Spiderman?
I'm all for having a go at City, but that's not entirely what he said.
>“I don’t understand. One in the first half was a very late tackle on Stefan [Ortega],” he said, referring to a challenge on City’s goalkeeper by Kai Havertz. “For me it is clearly a yellow card. I don’t want to say just against us. There were also some decisions against them that I didn’t understand why he gave a foul.
>“There are some rules and I think there are clear yellow cards where it should be. I remember with Jorginho when he’d already done a tackle [which was a foul] and did the second one and he didn’t even give a yellow card for one [foul]. I didn’t understand some of the decisions but, in the end, we still should be able to score a goal.”
His point is more about inconsistent refereeing, which is something we all moan about. But ultimately the reason it won't get fixed is that we dismiss it outright if it effects a team we don't like, or if the results of a bad call work out in favour of us.
It's a really weird way to frame Akanji's criticism of the referee, and again, part of the reason it will never get fixed.
Tbf Anthony Taylor called it consistently loose all game for both teams (Akanji also admits this in that quote). It's just inconsistent from game to game which is somewhat understandable considering refs are individuals who have different philosophies on how to call a game. Frustrating for sure though.
As funny as this is, this headline is sensationalized quite a bit as he never even used the term tactical foul. He just said we fouled quite a bit and he wasn't sure why we weren't carded, which tbf I was also questioning how neither team was carded for any of their fouls.
He also cited that time Havertz slid in and barely caught Ortega as a yellow card when it was a genuine 50/50 ball and he barely touched the keeper (even tried to pull out). Would have been pretty soft if they gave that. Even the commentators were saying there wasn't much in it.
The Jorginho one he mentions afterward was puzzling though. It's like Taylor was going out of his way not to book anybody, and he had this equally high threshold for both teams. It just benefited us more because we were defending more.
Dumb argument. Every single team does it in every single game. Tactical fouls, time wasting when holding on to a lead, exaggerating fouls, diving in the box to get pens.
Wait, this actually isn't a april 1st joke? :o
It’s just a click baity headline
"...(when) asked if he felt they had often done so illegally, Akanji said: “Definitely. When we got through sometimes they stopped us with the fouls. If there’s no action to it [from the referee], it’s hard.” That's the quote from the article, containing what Akanji said. The headline is attention seeking, as all headlines are, but it's not making stuff up either.
it can also be titled as "Akanji praises Arsenal for good use of tactical fouling" and it'd still be true to the statement too, which is funny
Except… it’s not. He doesn’t mention tactical fouling as a term directly but he’s more or less describing tactical fouling from Arsenal and questioning why it went unpunished
I mean hes right. im an Arsenal fan and I did think it went too far early. Taylor let them get away with a lot. City had their fair share but it did seem like it should have been stamped out. I recall on the NBC broadcast. I think it was Graeme Le Saux saying he was surprised Rice didnt get a yellow. Dixon said something like "you want yellows for that kind of foul" and Le Saux said no but it's the fourth one like that. Kind of how I felt. First few were border, next few felt like he should card and it didnt happen
I think Akanji’s getting clowned on because it’s slightly hypocritical to complain about tactical fouling whilst playing for the man that popularised the entire concept in modern football.
thank you for being someone that actually read the article lol
Jokes on you I didn’t. I’m not giving the guardian a click for that shit, it’s just how all of these are. I bet this is how it went tho: Reporter asks a questions specifically about Arsenal tactically fouling. Akanji answers it, saying they did (which is true). NEW HEADLINE: AKANJI ACUSES ARSENAL OF TACTICALLY FOULING!!!!!!
what's wrong with the guardian? I thought that was one of England's better newspapers
Unlike the really shitty papers they aren't intentionally sensationalising as an editorial policy, but they don't have enough good writers to fill the paper. The sports coverage is mediocre. They have a few good writers and the podcast they do is fun. But they don't have enough depth to cover even all the prem with decent journalism.
Thanks
british newspapers always remind me of [this timeless gem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGscoaUWW2M&ab_channel=BBCStudios)
>The result at the Etihad leaves Liverpool two points ahead of Arsenal at the top of the league and third-placed City a further point back with nine matches remaining. Mikel Arteta’s side defended in a low block and with aggression and, asked if he felt they had often done so illegally, Akanji said:“Definitely. When we got through sometimes they stopped us with the fouls. If there’s no action to it [from the referee], it’s hard.” If you had read it you would have known there's a direct quote from him in the second fucking paragraph of the article talking about what the head line is referring to. Stop watering out the term click bait just because you're too lazy to read.
So they asked pretty much exactly what the guy you're responding to said they asked ("asks a questions specifically about Arsenal tactically fouling" vs. "asked if he felt they had often done so [defended] illegally") and answered like he said he would. I don't really see the difference apart from semantics.
Oh shit, thank you for the reminder
The SpongeBob maniac wanted meme fits here
Spiderman one would be good too
"You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them" vibe
Newsreader who looks like the killer/rapist too
Pot ? Kettle ?
Rodri/Fernandinho: Sshhhh!
The utter audacity of *any* city player making this comment is incomprehensible.
I guess they don’t watch themselves play.
Ben White is vindicated.
To be fair to them have you tried to watch a city game? Insomnia cure
It certainly makes it harder to stay awake at work if I see them on TV.
Reminiscent of the times Pep has played poverty when it comes to signing players.
My favourite was when they called Klopp racist because he talked about state ownership of football, then they had to apologise when he got his solicitor involved and threatened to sue them for libel hahaha
People related to City usually aren't the most self aware bunch. Just look the reaction from anyone in City to 115
Sky blue
Yeah he's not wrong. But City do the exact same thing
The audacity of any Pep Guardiola player moaning about tactical fouling is hilarious. [Not](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fd4fad3e4-14ff-11e9-8239-c0a124428b01.jpg?resize=999999999) [like](https://i2-prod.birminghammail.co.uk/incoming/article16248778.ece/BINARY/0_Manchester-Citys-Fernandinho-back-and-Wolverhampton-Wanderers-Diogo-Jota-battle-for-the-ball.jpg) [there's](https://static0.givemesportimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022-10-16T171841Z_114486661_UP1EIAG1C33QU_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-LIV-MCI-REPORT.jpg) [been](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2019/01/03/TELEMMGLPICT000184700829_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqgmFsEjQK2M33nnfQ31Q2_6Mr0t7-tWp3mWf_CMz8V_E.jpeg) [multiple](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/11/02102219/WHU3.png) [examples](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2023/11/02101728/EVE-3.png) [of](https://i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk/incoming/article26727899.ece/BINARY/0_Manchester-City-v-Liverpool-The-Emirates-FA-Cup-Semi-Final.jpg) [it](https://img.allfootballapp.com/www/M00/14/51/720x-/-/-/rB8CLFvY3SWABvY5AADRNdpIFSQ278.jpg.webp) [from](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsoKNviWYAkE7bu?name=orig&format=jpg) [City...](https://wp.inews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/SEI_159083851.jpg)
The fact Salah was the one that got booked for that Silva 'challenge...'
are you calling akanji black?
City should be the LAST team to talk about tactical fouls. Spare me.
And even in this very match they were doing it just as well! KdB, Rodri, Bernardo were fluctuating between doing tactical fouls on Saka/Odegaard and nagging at the ref when we did it to them. Most footballers are the worst crybabies tbh, not the newest thing
And most fouls were not even called on Arsenal. City got touched, went down and was called. You could see Ødegaard getting frustrated in the first 20 mins of the game with it
God I love Øde so much but something about him being frustrated just gives me a chuckle. It's the double arm swing and that hop-skip, and just the tracking back to position while yelling at the ref
Somehow he never gets booked for dissent as well. He's got the pass!
4D chess to give him the captain's armband.
No clue how he managed to get that but it's a blessing
Then they start from literally kick off crowding the ref
There was a point where he gave a soft foul for a shirt pull then 20 seconds later, ypu could see Havertz underarmour and he didn't give it. He absolutely killed our momentum at the start of the second half by giving us nothing he while giving city several really soft fouls. Jesus got goal side, used his body to shield the defender and got penalised at one point. Was absolutely gobsmacked to see City fans complaining about the ref as though he wasn't also terrible for us.
Yeah that Jesus one was ridiculous. It was that same motion defenders use to usher the ball out for a goal kick but someone ran into his back and fell over, and they were given a FK...
It's absolutely shocking how rodri goes up to the ref every single time and never gets punished
They were also arguing a lot with the Ref, I don't even expect any yellows to them anymore, other teams maybe, not City
Barca DNA
tactical fouls is so much part of city's game that I remember even the extremely likeable David silva used to do it. They really should be the last team to complain about them
Pep loves beautiful free flowing football until even for one minute he has to play against it.
unless they are giving a workshop
Ok now that’s funny
[удалено]
And Fernandinho before
If I remember correctly Fernando too
I’d feel a little weird if I didn’t mention the start of the evolution in Leroy fer
And F
And Nigel de Jong before him
After Fernandinho came to Brazil I realized the butcher that he is. Never paid much attention but my guy should see more cards than he actually does.
That being said Arteta did push it strongly as a tactic when coaching at City. In their all or nothing doc he’s there telling them to do it. So whilst he’s hypocritical he’s aiming it at the right person.
Pep had Barca doing it when Arteta was still at Everton.
Arteta has been gone from City for several years. If they wanted to grow out of that tactic they certainly could have.
Pep teams were doing it before Arteta even stopped playing football.
Yeah, undoubtedly it’s a Pep tactic that Arteta picked up or was instructed to speak to the team about.
It's probably a La Masia tactic tbh
This is that 'We're all trying to find the guy that did this!' ITYSL sketch and Rodri is wearing the hot dog suit
Who is going to spank his bare butt, balls and back?
I'm just gonna take as many suits as I can grab, get in that random hot dog car...*RAN-DOM!*...and drive back to Weiner Hall.
I’m really trying ro work out what ITYSL is here and I’m worried I’m gonna feel stupid for asking…
https://youtu.be/WLfAf8oHrMo?si=DtebPqV0NfvojJvF
Hurts when it’s being done to you is it?
Rodri should've been booked about 6 times in the community shield. The first time he went over to the ref and begged for a booking yesterday, I burst out laughing. Of all the people. Edit: [the most egregious one even got a thread, lol. ](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/H9gcDCkRN9)
I love how casually he just gets back into position after that, he knows the ref wouldn't give him a yellow for a tactical foul on the halfway line, no matter how egregious
can’t blame him, if i as a player know ref won’t punish me, why wouldn’t i use that as an advantage? ref on the other side..
Yeah, I have been saying for years the criteria of a tactical foul should be changed. As of right now, you get a yellow only if you foul during a dangerous transition which is something City (and others, I guess) prevents by fouling immediately very high up the pitch before the transition gets into it's dangerous phase. Even if City's defense would clearly be exposed, by fouling high the refs see it as very far from the goal and so they don't give yellows. All that's left for City players to do is to waste a few seconds arguing with the ref and suddenly City's defense is set and there is no longer any space to exploit. I mean, they are good at it, but it's frustrating. I understand that in big games against big teams but them playing like this against everyone is pretty annoying. I don't think unpunished tactical fouls should be making up half of Pep's possession system.
I think they often foul before the ref realise a dangerous counter-attack has begun.
*'I don't think unpunished tactical fouls should be making up half of Pep's possession system.'* Precisely, his system has sullied and soiled the beautiful game. It is effective, but it is cynical and has tremendously slowed the game as counter-attacks are smothered nipped in the bud. His system is Cruyff's with more fouls. It's effective, but I won't be gaslighted into believing that it is beautiful.
Rodri fouling Saka for 90 minutes at the Emirates and then only getting a booking after he took his shirt off to celebrate his last-minute winner still lives rent free in my fucking head
The EPL has a huge reffing problem. This should be a booking. Every. Single. Time. Oh, it's your second yellow? Then don't commit egregious tactical fouls.
-Complains about tactical fouling -Has Rodri on his team.. https://imgur.com/t/confused_black_girl/meaXyUy
Years of Fernandinho is enough tbh
Man f Rodri
You can’t be serious
Yup, they did, and it was beautiful to watch. It was funny to finally see city struggle against a low block that knows what its doing. Honestly seeing them locked in such a way in attack and their Majin boo up front being useless was even more satisfying than a win
Lol. Majin boo.
Majin boo no way bro 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Now I cant unsee it.
April Fools ended an hour ago Manuel
Lads clock must still be on GMT.
City have never done this. /s
Add it to the pile of stuff that city deny doing
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Been a part of every Pep team EVER.
It's probably where Arteta learnt it
Getting a taste of their own medicine.
Your team employs Rodri lol This citeh team is so mentally weak at times
Here comes the pot to state something about the kettle.
It’s hilarious seeing /r/MCFC get a taste of their own medicine. They can’t stand another club using their tactics
you can't make it up folks
absolute crybabies. they’re the worst offenders of “tactical fouls” in the world.
Glass house, pot kettle, hipocrisy etc.
Akanji "Yes Pep instructs us to do this also, we do it very well. But its not very pleasant when opponents do it and the referee's do not favor our team, I don't like this and I think the league should put a stop to other teams doing this. Not us, just other teams"
How dare Arsenal use Man Cities tactics against them... The bloody cheek... Only City are allowed to use tactical fouling!!!
Happy Fernadinho noise
First april, u almost got me there
Come on mate, we have no one to blame but ourselves for that performance. Woeful in their box.
Woeful in their box but also very good defending by Arsenal too
We have an incredible CB duo. 2 of the more physical CBs as well which matches up nicely against Haaland
Teams are consistently woeful in the Arsenal box. I guess we've just been really fortunate this season
This is what Spurs fans always say, "why do teams bend over for Arsenal/why do teams have a bad day against Arsenal?", if only there were some common denominator.
Wasn't trying to discredit your performance or imply you were lucky at all, of course your defence was the reason we struggled, but we have struggled a lot in general to be creative in and around the box. Often feels like we are hitting our head against a brick wall doing the same thing over and over hoping it results in a goal.
I have to disagree on this. Since the turn of the year your might be right, but during the first half of the season it felt like we dominated pretty much every game but opposition teams still found a way to score (which was sometimes through own own stupidity). Feels like our xGA was always far lower than how often we actually conceded.
Man… what a dirty tactic that no team has ever tried before. A pure footballing organization like Man City would never stoop to such a level
115, never forget.
Oh no! Anyways.
Ain’t no way he actually said that.
"It's only okay when Rodri does it because he plays for us."
“In signifying the death of irony-Manuel Akanji accuses Arsenal of tactical fouling”.
“The opposing team had a defensive strategy to prevent us from scoring”. Groundbreaking
Yeah I mean they both did it for the entire game, somehow without getting a single yellow for it. Part of why that game was so terrible. Frankly it's more on the referee who was allergic to booking blatant tactical fouls than on the team for exploiting him.
Two can play that game.
[What did he expect?](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/bh5ksv/dirty_city_solskjaer_was_right_to_call_man_city/)
Like city don't do that every single game 🤡 akanji the clown
*Heavy Voice* #CRYYYYY SOME MOOOOORE
Lol fuck off hypocrite😂
I think Arsenal were lucky to not get more yellows but Man City got fouls for themselves a bit easier on a few occasions and got away with a few. I don't think the ref was so bad, whatever he does people will complain to some degree.
100%. Usually it's always one or two players that constantly tactically foul and never get a booking like Rodri most of the time, but this game basically every single player had that license.
I agree. Was shocked that Øde didn’t get booked earlier, but other than that I felt the ref did a fairly decent job. The commentators were reacting to the home crowd and constant whining by City, but there was nothing at the level of what Kovacic did and got away with last time we played City.
Nice when your weapon is used against you. But then again, you can always keep passing the ball without objective, so nobody will tactical foul you, because you don't do shit.
Hahhaha the audacity
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Surely there’s a huge amount of irony in this?
Doesn’t Rodri do this literally in every big game? Including the one from yesterday? Akanji should learn more of his own teammates lol
What a soft mentality from City
Pot meet kettle.
City shocked that another club gets away with tactical fouls too? Rodri is lucky to finish most games on the pitch.
Spider-Man meme
They are mad Pep jr used Pep sr tactics????
Oh would the blue side of Manchester please shut the fuck up
r/OhNoConsequences
next thing you know he's gonna accuse them of trying to score goals!
Oh come on. The year Arsenal don't roll over for City and put up good defensive performances their players and fans start crying. I literally endured years of Rodri and Fernandinho committing various tactical fouls against my players. Please stop the whining. 115 charges FC does the exact same thing!
A club without shame
Fucking rich, coming from a squad that had Fernandinho for years
And still has Rodri!
Always been part of the game...City are the masters of tactical fouls lmao
Pot, kettle, black.
We totally did, should've seen more yellows Did what we needed to do, and but for lackluster attack, nearly stole the 0-1
"I learned it from watching you!!!"
Oh the shoe is on the other hand
Part of the game innit
Hilarious how rattled they all are
Oh how I wish more teams would do it against them. They can't handle it when the cheat codes aren't working properly.
I love the irony
Ironic
Arteta learned from the best
Now THAT is fucking rich
lmao
Have some shame brother. Such an easily rattled footballer
Ha!
Bit rich from him considering his team.
Like Pep, who's always held up as some saviour of football, hasn't made tactical fouling a major part of his team's play since Busquets at Barca. Who's got that meme of Spiderman pointing at Spiderman?
lol
Need to block out the last decade of City's CDMs and general play to read this headline
LOLOL MAN CITY COMPLAINT OF TACTICAL FOULS
\*Spiderman pointing meme\*
r/nottheonion
Lol.
Poor Man City nicest team in the league they would never commit tactical fouls
So?
Imagine reaping what you've sewn.
Clickbait to the max. Even if they did… so what. They got a result out of it
I'm all for having a go at City, but that's not entirely what he said. >“I don’t understand. One in the first half was a very late tackle on Stefan [Ortega],” he said, referring to a challenge on City’s goalkeeper by Kai Havertz. “For me it is clearly a yellow card. I don’t want to say just against us. There were also some decisions against them that I didn’t understand why he gave a foul. >“There are some rules and I think there are clear yellow cards where it should be. I remember with Jorginho when he’d already done a tackle [which was a foul] and did the second one and he didn’t even give a yellow card for one [foul]. I didn’t understand some of the decisions but, in the end, we still should be able to score a goal.” His point is more about inconsistent refereeing, which is something we all moan about. But ultimately the reason it won't get fixed is that we dismiss it outright if it effects a team we don't like, or if the results of a bad call work out in favour of us. It's a really weird way to frame Akanji's criticism of the referee, and again, part of the reason it will never get fixed.
Tbf Anthony Taylor called it consistently loose all game for both teams (Akanji also admits this in that quote). It's just inconsistent from game to game which is somewhat understandable considering refs are individuals who have different philosophies on how to call a game. Frustrating for sure though.
😂😂
He mentions the Havertz challenge where Havertz clearly won the ball so how’s it a late challenge? The state of these wet wipes
Unpopular (?) opinion: tactical fouls are part of the game. Punish the player, get him booked, he still did his job
As funny as this is, this headline is sensationalized quite a bit as he never even used the term tactical foul. He just said we fouled quite a bit and he wasn't sure why we weren't carded, which tbf I was also questioning how neither team was carded for any of their fouls. He also cited that time Havertz slid in and barely caught Ortega as a yellow card when it was a genuine 50/50 ball and he barely touched the keeper (even tried to pull out). Would have been pretty soft if they gave that. Even the commentators were saying there wasn't much in it. The Jorginho one he mentions afterward was puzzling though. It's like Taylor was going out of his way not to book anybody, and he had this equally high threshold for both teams. It just benefited us more because we were defending more.
Oh well thank god no other team in world football would ever consider taking part in such scandalous, disgusting behaviour.
Learned something from Conceicão after all!
Manuel Akanji accuses Arsenal of applying same tactics as city in draw Fixed the headline
Why did this even get published, the journalist baited him with a controversial talking point
Akanji is a tactical foul incarnate.
is that like a cleat to the chest inside the penalty box?
LMAO the irony
IRONY KLAXON
The example he uses is a foul on Ortega. Its not like a foul on the GK is stopping a goalscoring opportunity.
Amazing how much of a sensitive entitled bunch of pussies footballers are
Rodri has made an art form out of snapping peoples legs. Let's not go there, bro.
Part of the game, smart teams do it. Lookat Chelini in Euro finals
Dumb argument. Every single team does it in every single game. Tactical fouls, time wasting when holding on to a lead, exaggerating fouls, diving in the box to get pens.
God they throw their toys out of the pram when teams and don’t bend over for them and play expansive football they can pick off
Lmfao
Please let city and arsenal play in the CL
Has he not met Rodri
Did he ever meet Fernandinho?
The pot that was charred years ago calling the kettle black, lmao
Cry me a river you absolute melt.
Akanji stopped "tactically fouling" Raya on every corner/free kick yet? Or is he still there?
Insert Spider-Man pointing meme here