maybe doing nothing but turn the other cheek is rather a good thing.... otherwise teams will look to 'rough us up' knowing that we will take the bait and it will play into their hands and we end up playing a very scrappy, disjointed, stop-start game full of niggly fouls and losing concentration with actually playing football...
if you dont retaliate in kind, it makes it very hard for the ref to ignore subsequent fouling and we will then get the upper hand.... I have no problem 'advertising' fouls to the referee in order to get good freekick chances from strategic positions on the field.... its usually the best way for other teams to learn that they can get punished from a setpiece situation more, than had they just let the move develop, just covered space and eventually let the move fizzle out..
I'm not advocating cheating, but sometimes a foul does need to be made known to the ref, so that it makes it difficult for the opposition to keep on doing it with impunity...
just dont come down to their level.... thata exactly what they want, as the odds of success for a less-talented team can rise quickly when that happens...