One of the main reasons that City have such high possession is that as soon as they give the ball away they persitentlty foul. The knob that is Atkinson did nothing to stamp it out last night, and then booked Connor Gallagher for something that clerly was not a foul. Liverpool persistently foul too. Everyone bangs on about them being great teams, but defensively they are both suspect.

Would like to see the Premier League clamp down on teams unlawfully trying to break up play.

Also glad to see Pep getting his knickers in a twist about time wasting. I can remember watching City spending the last 10 minutes feigning injury and rolling on the floor when only 1-0 up. Nice to see Kevin de Bruyne near to tears at the final whistle.

Rodri is the master at this. How he didn't get booked is beyond me. A clear booking on Wilf in the 1st half and then persistent fouls in the 2nd.
I have noticed the top teams (Liverpool, City and Chelsea) foul early, often on the half way line before a move gets going. In my mind these are the definition of a professional foul, but they rarely get punished even with a booking.

City have always done this under Pep and now others are doing likewise.

Another new dodge to break up play is the fake head injury.

Old, Ungifted and White

You'll need to contrast that with at least possession stats Willo to provide any insight as to their frequency of fouls etc.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

As much as I love Gallagher, he is responsible for many of our fouls, sitting as second in the most fouls committed by a PL player this season. The difference is, his fouls are generally not cynical but just over enthusiasm. It is frustrating that the bigger teams seem to get away with cynical professional fouls more than the smaller teams, but in general Man City only need to commit half-a-dozen of those type of fouls a game to stop most teams as they often have 70%+ possession. Monday night we got away with a couple of professional fouls too, like when Schlupp dragged someone back when they were breaking, so I don't have too many complaints, although I did think Gallagher's booking was a bit soft as both players were genuinely going for a high ball.

He's pacing himself well then - he can afford 1 more in the next 3 league games and he's been getting1 yellow every 3 and a bit games.