Tackles, fouls and yellow cards: the PL season so far

By Tony Attwood

Last season Leicester City raced to near the top of the league and for a long time were looking dead certs for at the very least a top four finish, if not a runners’ up spot.  And then they fell apart and slipped right back down the table.  So, in our normal way, Untold started to ask what happened.

Unfortunately the only help we got from Leicester fans involved a lot of abuse and rather silly name-calling, and the assertion that everything was down to the injury of one player.  In fact such answers were wrong since the decline did not coincide with the injury, but it did coincide with a change of tactics.  For up to the point where it all imploded, Leicester were tackling at a rate far, far higher than any other club.  And they were doing it without getting yellow cards.

There must be a reason why the club changed their tactics so suddenly, but the only ones we’ve been able to find is that suggests someone in PGMO told their staff to stop giving Leicester such an easy ride, or someone spotted our initial analysis and realised something very odd was going on.

Either way Leicester’s number of tackles fell dramatically, and their results got a lot poorer.  Which is why I’ve returned to the theme of tackles, fouls and yellow cards this season.

And we do once again find there is a outlier in the figures this season: Tottenham Hotspur.

But before dealing with the figures I need to point out, as it was not always made clear last season, that although tackles are the prime source of fouls, fouls can also be awarded for

a) actions against an opponent such as a push, charge, a jump into, trip, or a kick, holding, obstruction, spitting, handball.

b) goalkeeper offences such a holding the ball for more than six seconds, picking up the ball after it  has been passed from a team mate.

c) other offences such as dangerous play, impeding a player, preventing the keeper from releasing the ball etc.

Of these three the number of type a) offences is far higher than b) and c)  So where we see a club that is getting more fouls against them than they have made tackles, we can be fairly sure they are type a) offences (the push, charge, trip etc).

This season it is the figures from Tottenham and Leeds that are causing interest, although other the activities of some other clubs are worthy of a look.  But first the table of Premier League clubs.

Rank (by tackles)	Club	Tackles	Fouls	Tackles per foul	Yellow cards	Fouls per yellow
1.	Leeds United	96	34	2.82	4	8.5
2.	Everton	80	44	1.82	2	22.0
3.	Crystal Palace	75	53	1.42	6	8.83
4.	Southampton	69	56	1.23	7	8.0
5.	Wolverhampton Wanderers	65	39	1.66	3	13.0
6.	Leicester City	60	39	1.53	7	5.57
7.	West Ham United	60	41	1.46	5	8.2
8.	Chelsea	59	56	1.05	6	9.33
9.	Sheffield United	59	53	1.11	6	8.83
10.	Brighton and Hove Albion	57	55	1.04	6	9.17
11.	Fulham	52	56	0.92	11	5.09
12.	West Bromwich Albion	52	53	0.98	3	17.67
13.	Liverpool	51	36	1.42	4	9.00
14.	Tottenham Hotspur	50	58	0.86	6	9.67
15.	Manchester City	45	33	1.33	5	6.6
16.	Manchester United	44	43	1.02	6	7.17
17.	Newcastle United	44	45	0.98	11	4.09
18.	Aston Villa	43	33	1.30	8	4.13
19.	Burnley	40	38	1.05	6	6.33
20.	Arsenal	39	33	1.18	4	8.25

Most clubs are getting around 1.2 to 1.3 tackles per foul given, but the number of tackles committed by clubs is incredibly varied.   Arsenal do the least tackling, with Leeds tackling two and a half times more often!

But Leeds are getting almost the lowest number of fouls with 34.  Arsenal and Villa are the only two clubs getting fewer – each with 33.  So – highest number of tackles but within an inch of the smallest number of fouls.  That is very, very similar to last season’s Leicester tactics.  At 2.82 tackles per foul Leeds are out on their own – again exactly as Leicester were last season.

Just as curious are Everton.   The second highest level of tackling (80) but with a lowish number of fouls.  And amazingly, not only a very high level of tackling (a prime cause of yellow cards) but  only two yellow cards so far!  They are committing 22 fouls per yellow card compared with most clubs that are around six or seven.  Arsenal have to commit four fouls per yellow card.  So Everton can commit over five times as many fouls as Arsenal per yellow card.  That does seem very, very odd.

The only explanation I can think of is that there is a use of tiny niggling fouls in rotation, among certain clubs, so no player gets booked for repeated fouling.  This annoys the opposition, and eventually a player (often a young player) retaliates, and gets a yellow card.  Job done.

So what we look for is

a) A high number of tackles but a low number of fouls.  That means either they have perfected the art of tackling or the referees are being very lenient with the club.  Leeds are way ahead of everyone here.

b) A high number of fouls – especially if higher than the number of tackles.  This indicates a team using every trick in the book to try and get an advantage.  Tottenham, Fulham and WBA are the three teams to watch here.

c) A high or low number of fouls per yellow.  A high number means the referee is being very relaxed about the club.  The low number suggests that the referee is being particularly stern, or the club is using other illegal tactics but the referee is picking them up.  Leicester again feature here, as they did last year.

Overall we can say, Everton and West Brom are either committing a large number fouls which are so minor no referee would ever give them a card, or else referees are being very lenient.

Fouling players

Rank	Player	Club	Nationality	Fouls
1.	Steven Alzate	Brighton and Hove Albion	Colombia	14
2.	Tomas Soucek	West Ham	Czech Republic	13
3.	Isaac Hayden	Newcastle United	England	11
3.	Pierre-Emile Højbjerg	Tottenham Hotspur	Denmark	11
3.	Paul Pogba	Manchester United	France	11
6.	George Baldock	Sheffield United	England	9
6.	Jake Livermore	West Bromwich Albion	England	9
6.	Lucas Moura	Tottenham Hotspur	Brazil	9
9.	Phil Bardsley	Burnley	Scotland	8
9.	Moussa Djenepo	Southampton	Mali	8
9.	Allan	Everton	Brazil	8
9.	Nampalys Mendy	Leicester City	France	8
13.	Ben Davies	Tottenham Hotspur	Wales	7
13.	David McGoldrick	Sheffield United	Ireland	7
13.	Aleksandar Mitrovic	Fulham	Serbia	7
13.	Denis Odoi	Fulham	Belgium	7
13.	Andros Townsend	Crystal Palace	England	7
13.	Joel Ward	Crystal Palace	England	7
19.	Jordan Ayew	Crystal Palace	Ghana	6
19.	Ryan Bertrand	Southampton	England	6

Top 20 players sorted by club

• Crystal Palace: 3 (total 20 fouls)
• Tottenham Hotspur: 3 (total 27 fouls)
• Fulham: 2 (total 14 fouls)
• Sheffield United: 2 (total 16 fouls)
• Southampton: 2 (total 14 fouls)

This is another interesting table where clubs are employing two or three players to commit the fouls – with Tottenham standing out here.  However Tottenham are mid-table for the number of yellow cards, which again suggests a form of rotational fouling.

Can anything be done?

Our article highlighting Leicester’s bizarre figures came just at the time when things started to go very wrong for the club.  It was perhaps a coincidence, although it might have reminded PGMO that we are looking.   We’ll watch with interest what happens next.

Certainly these figures are extremely odd, and suggest that some teams are using rotational fouling in a more complex way that Bolton did, when they invented the approach.

All we can say to PGMO is would you please keep an eye on the clubs we’ve highlighted.  It would be ludicrous if another situation similar to Leicester were to happen again this season.

Leicester’s strange tackle / foul / yellow figures change as they slip down the league

Arteta is appointed and our “Rotational fouling” phrase becomes mainstream