The pre-match back-and-forth between the two managers ahead of the Manchester derby was all about fouls. Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer cheekily suggested that Man City intentionally foul high up the pitch as part of their aggressive pressing game, in order to make sure their opponents’ attacks never get going – and because referees are less likely to dole out cards for fouls in that part of the pitch.
“You don’t get the yellow cards [there], do you? But that’s just because they commit so many players forward and you can clearly see that they’ve got them in that mould of trying to win the ball back, and they do make fouls,” Solskjaer said.
His counterpart, Pep Guardiola, was affronted. “I don’t like it. No. My team is not built to think and create for that, not at all,” was the City manager’s response – a retort that was met with derision from United fans, who quickly dug up footage from the Amazon Prime documentary on their rivals which showed assistant manager Mikel Arteta doing just that, instructing players to foul.
Point: Manchester City foul more than any other team in the Premier League.
— UtdArena. (@utdarena) April 22, 2019
This graphic depicts all Premier League teams’ fouls per game when the statistic is adjusted for team possession. Manchester City without the ball foul more often than any other team without the ball. pic.twitter.com/caKlzhn2bP
But what happened in the game?
As it transpired, in a match that was hard-fought in the first half before City took advantage of some lax United play in the second half to win 2-0, both teams ended up committing the exact same number of fouls: 10.
But perhaps Solskjaer’s pre-match chatter had some influence on referee Andre Marriner after all, as Guardiola speculated it might. City captain Vincent Kompany went in the referee’s book as early as the 10th minute and left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko was also the recipient of an early yellow card.
Guardiola: "In 10 years of managing Barca, Bayern & City, I have NEVER told my players to foul the opposition. I would never do this..."
— Kloppo (@klopps_reds) April 24, 2019
Pity @ManCity didn't edit this out of the docu released last season which proves it. But Pep will say its Artetas words & not his right? Ok pic.twitter.com/MkKam2ktBa
Indeed, City had more yellow-carded players in this game for over an hour of playing time, until Luke Shaw’s 89th-minute booking evened the scores at two apiece.
Same number of fouls, same number of yellow cards. Much ado about nothing?
As for the United manager’s specific point of City’s attacking players committing intentional fouls: the visitors’ midfielders and forwards did indeed combine to commit more fouls than their United counterparts, though it was a close-run thing, with six fouls to five.
If anyone were to nitpick, they could say City’s foul count is slightly more egregious, with their forwards committing three fouls to United’s zero and the Sky Blues’ dominance in midfield explaining why United’s players in that position, forced to play more defensively, led the foul count five to three.
Of course, there are more pressing questions for both managers. Guardiola’s men are now in the driver’s seat for the Premier League title, going one point clear of Liverpool with three games remaining, having cleared their last major hurdle. Solskjaer’s side, meanwhile, have lost seven of their last nine games, though Arsenal’s loss to Wolves on Wednesday night mean the top four is still achievable.
They play Chelsea, another top-four rival, next. Blues manager Maurizio Sarri was sent off in his last game and has been charged with misconduct – perhaps Solskjaer will have a pop at him next.
