RateTheRef

From reading comments from the United manager - the referee told them she couldn’t take any action about the multiple fouls on the same player because “it’s different players” committing the fouls.

Out of curiosity - how many yellow cards were issued during the game?

Rugby has the answer as is often the case. Repeated fouling by one team, repeated fouls of a particular type or repeated fouling by one player will result in a yellow card. Not tough on individual who cops card for third or fourth team offence because they would have been warned in advance.
On reflection this morning it is one power I would love to see given to referees. Grealish may at least get some protection but his example makes the point that too many players are fouled too often with impunity.

I was with Phil Dowd on a game and he cautioned the 3rd player to foul the attacker for the home team. His argument was as it was clearly a tactic, the foul was deliberate and targeted, meaning it was easily reckless rather than careless. An example where intent outweighed the challenge

I recall Howard Webb doing something similar when Moyes' Everton were fouling David Silva by rota. He booked the 4th and 5th foul on him and they took the hint and stopped doing it.

My recollection was of Howard Webb doing it in a Derby game when he awarded four yellow cards for fouls on Shaun Wright-Phillips by different players.

Players must be protected, if multiple players fouled the same opponent the YC must be brandished. The whole point of multiple players doing this is to avoid the YC and as refs we must protect skillful players.

I'm sorry but that is neither fair on the players nor consistent with the Laws of the Game. Under the list of cautionable offences, nowhere does it include committing an otherwise non-cautionable foul on a player who has been fouled n times before. What is n? Who keeps track of the current number of fouls against each player and keeps all opponents aware of who can be fouled and who can't?

Half the time, the players who appear to be fouled a lot are the ones who are playing to draw technical fouls/slight touches from opponents.

Sanctions exist for serious fouls.

I recall Michael Oliver doing something similar in an FA Cup match between Chelsea and Manchester United a few years ago.

Hazard was getting the tripe fouled out of him, so Oliver pulled the United captain aside and made a big show of saying the next player to foul Hazard would pick up a caution for Persistent Infringement. Sure enough, the next player to foul Hazard not long after picked up a yellow...which happened to be his second and off he went.

Went down a treat with the United players as you'd expect.

Either way, tactical fouling by a team of a single player is just as much persistent infringement as one player fouling several and as such needs to be identified and sanctioned accordingly.

The problem here is that it is far more complicated than simply saying 'The next player to foul X gets a yellow card'.  If that were to happen we would see even more playacting than we see now.  X may well be one of those players who spends much of the game extracting fouls from referees for the slightest contact in order to obtain penalties and promising free kicks.  The worst 'X' has already been mentioned but there are others almost as bad.  It is excruciating enough, with empty grounds, to see these ludicrous fancy-dans hurling themselves around screaming like toddlers.  Imagine if they knew for certain they can get opponents carded with impunity. 

Sharing out the fouls has always been in the game and a competent referee can deal with it sensibly.  Far more important to rid the game of the prima donnas who spend so much time deceiving referees.