why do you think that is "smart".. its a foul in every freaking situation, you use your upper torso not your knees and legs, wthIn some of those clips he's attacking the ball, particularly the ones where he's airborne. He does the smart thing and uses his legs to protect himself (by kicking at other players going for the ball)
and his constant tackling with stretched out legs in that compilation is extremely dangerous, regardless of whether he is able to hit the ball first or not, its a foul