Man City have made their worst start to a Premier League Season since 2010, with 27 points from their opening 15 games.

There are many theories as to why this is, the most obvious being the absence of Rodri – and I agree this is the main one.

But why?

Well, any team would struggle losing the Ballon D’or, European Championship winner from their team. But I think there is one BIG reason that people aren’t talking about enough.

That reason is, fouls.

Tactical fouls, specifically. We don’t like to talk about them – even City deny doing them – but they’re a huge part of the game, particularly for high possession, high-defensive-line teams like City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

Why do teams use them? Well, simply it’s to stop counter attacks. If you have the ball a lot (or try to) – as City do – then the main way people are going to try and hurt you is by sitting deep and then charging forward when you win the ball to try and take advantage of open space.

So, if you’re trying to prevent that, one very simple way is to commit small, discreet fouls to stop the attack, slow the play down and play more of the game higher up the pitch. This is where – if you’re City – you can press high, win the ball back closer to the opponents goal and (crucially) have more of the ball.

City this season have committed fewer of these fouls over the years, and the last 2 seasons have seen their lowest number of fouls per game.

Why? And how does this affect the outcome of the game?

The way it affects the outcome of the game, in City’s case, is that although City aren’t conceding many more shots per game, the quality of those shots for the opposition is much better (or worse, from City’s perspective) than any year under Guardiola.

This is because instead of stopping the opposition higher up the pitch with a subtle tactical foul, City are allowing teams closer to their goal.

Guess who has made more fouls since 2019-20 (the season he arrived at the club? That’s right: Rodri.

Is it that simple?

Although City should commit more tactical fouls, it’s not that easy.

To be able to foul, your players need to be physical and able to cover the ground necessary to foul, often in transition against pacy attacking midfielders.

So while the answer to City’s problems might be to just foul more, they lack the players able to execute this in the way that Rodri does.

Gundogan pointing at James Maddison during the 4-0 loss against Spurs last month is a great example. Even if Gundogan did want to foul him, he was several yards short to be able to do so.

Rodri’s skill is not just that he has the tactical awareness to know when and how to commit the foul, but that he has the physicality to cover the ground to do so, before the ball as gone or his man can run away from him.

Tactical fouls are very effective way to stop counter attacks, but only if you have the personnel to implement it.

City, at the moment, don’t have that.