This, in turn, has led to another flare up of the rumbling culture war
between the analytics insurgents, who believe all human endeavour can and must be reduced to a single equation, and the traditionalist old guard, who believe the only way to understand a footballer is by following him around for weeks at a time and watching everything he does, meticulously observing his
breakfast habits, which way «round he arranges his toilet paper, and whether he throws chewing gum into a bin or just drops it in the street.