Guardiola: I never train tackles or tactical fouls, we can do other things

Pep Guardiola insisted he doesn't have the time to train his players to deliberately foul opposition players as he questioned the focus on tactical fouls by critics.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has raised the issue for the second time in three Manchester derbies, while Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp and others have also highlighted it.

City's manager has adamantly denied the claims every time and did so again in response to his rival's latest comments demanding fouls on Daniel James be more harshly punished.

When it was put to him that former assistant coach Mikel Arteta is featured in the Amazon series documenting City's Centurions campaign telling players to make a foul if there is a transition, Guardiola told the reporter to go to Arsenal to ask the new Gunners boss about it before evading the question of whether he was aware his coaches were instructing the squad in that way.

The City coach suggested he won't care if other people choose to remember his team for this aspect of their play rather than anything else.

"Like I said many times, when I was in Barcelona and here," he began, "I have never in my life had a meeting with players to talk about tactical fouls.

"It's simple. When you lose the ball, you have to make an incredibly quick transition and sometimes you are late and in that second make a foul. If the people can judge that our legacy will be tactical fouls then that is their own problem, not ours."

Widely derided for his view at the time, Guardiola would have the last laugh as his team won the league with a record-breaking 100 points the following year while ranking 18th for tackles committed and then became the first team to retain the title for a decade while ranking 20th.

As far as the Blues boss is concerned, he gives tactical fouls as much attention as tackles.

"We have about 62 per cent average of the ball and you cannot make fouls when you have the ball. Normally the guy that fouls is the guy that doesn't have the ball. If it happens, it is because the others are good and we are late but it's a process," he said.

"Two years ago people said we didn't do tackles and said how could we win the Premier League if I didn't train tackles. 'You have to do tackles, what are you doing in this country if you don't do tackles?'

"I don't train tackles and I don't train tactical fouls. There are a lot of things to do to improve teams and thinking about that is a waste of time. Sometimes you are late, sometimes you want to dribble and the player doesn't want you to dribble and makes a foul. It is a yellow card if the referee thinks we deserve it and that's all."