Toulouse president Damien Comolli insists that his club’s use of data is the reason behind their success rather than “football wisdom”. The entire football operation of the Ligue 1 club, who beat Liverpool in the Europa League last week, is entirely driven by data, from player and manager recruitment to which set-pieces to use in a match and when. It is bearing fruit as promotion from Ligue 2 in 2022 was followed by success in last season’s Coupe de France, which earned them their ticket to European football this season. And Comolli, who worked at Tottenham and Liverpool as sporting director, believes all their success comes from their use and understanding of the data. “Our whole football operation is driven by data, whether it his how we recruit a coach or sign a player, the way we play, the way we attack, the way we defend, from where we shoot, from where we cross, where we press,” Comolli said at Web Summit in Lisbon. “We try to optimise the wage bill and transfer budget using data. Data is part of our culture. “Where we gain a competitive advantage is we have decided to stick by data compared to the football wisdom. We are very disciplined at it. “At the moment we are struggling in the league, doing well in Europe. But with underlying data, we don’t look at results. “The day after the game, none of the pages of the match report will contain the result. It will show the underlying data, why we lost or why we won. “We need a bridge between the mathematics and science and the football people. Those individuals that can translate the data that is applicable to coaches and understandable to everyone, that bridge is absolutely key.” The use of data and artificial intelligence is quickly becoming more prominent in today’s game and Comolli believes it will have a big impact in the future of the game. He thinks that it will be particularly important in injury prevention. “In the last four seasons our player availability for per game has been at 95 per cent, the highest in France,” Comolli added. “We are constantly using data to measure player’s loads, we are are using AI to measure in-game data. “In the future it will help coaches make better decisions, when to make a substitution, when to make a tactical adjustment or not make one. “We played at Anfield, we were losing 4-1, our best striker was still on the pitch and we had a game a few days later. I messaged the analyst, ‘Why is he still on the pitch?’. “His data was showing he was in the red, so we brought him off. He went on to score in the next four games, maybe if we played him for longer he would have got injured or fatigued.” Read More No end to pursuit of the world’s best players, Saudi Pro League official says Basketball coach says sport can play big role in developing skills of youngsters Newcastle, Man Utd and West Ham target Leverkusen defender Chelsea ‘robbed’ by ‘embarrassing’ referee in Real Madrid draw, fumes Emma Hayes On this day in 2011: Martin Johnson resigns as England team manager Anthony Joshua sees Otto Wallin as stepping stone on way to title fight

Manchester United’s Champions League match at Galatasaray is under threat from bad weather in Istanbul. Heavy rain has been falling in the city throughout the day and there are concerns over the state of the pitch at Rams Park. A statement from UEFA said: “We are closely monitoring the weather forecast and at this time the match will go ahead as scheduled.” United go into the match bottom of Group A having lost three of their four games so far in this season’s competition, and without a win away to Galatasaray in their last three visits. Galatasaray twice came from behind to win 3-2 when the sides met at Old Trafford in October, with Mauro Icardi scoring an 81st-minute winner after United midfielder Casemiro had been sent off. Read More Longer rounds should mean bigger payday, says Natasha Jonas Luke Donald humbled by players’ support for his return as Ryder Cup captain Exeter’s Rob Baxter urges football law-makers to be careful over sin-bins trial

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Pep Guardiola has claimed Manchester City would be “killed” if they spent the sort of sums being coughed up by Chelsea over the last 12 months. City’s spending has long been scrutinised since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008, with the club still facing 115 Premier League charges for alleged breaches of financial regulations. But Guardiola insisted their approach had always been prudent, in contrast to that taken by Todd Boehly’s ownership group at Stamford Bridge, where the arrival of former City academy star Romeo Lavia this week had taken spending to nearly £1billion since the start of last summer. City, who have signed Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic in this window, could go back into the market with Kevin De Bruyne facing up to five months out and uncertainty over Cole Palmer’s future, but Guardiola said they would only pay fair prices. “I couldn’t sit here if we spent what Chelsea spent in the last two transfer windows – you would kill me,” Guardiola said. “You will kill me, that is for sure. We’d be under scrutiny like you couldn’t imagine. “When people say just Manchester City and Pep Guardiola buy players, I didn’t know I had a lot of money in my pocket to buy all the players I have. “We have to see what happens in the market and if we can do it and to pay what we believe is fair. In the end we will pay what is fair to do it. Otherwise, we have the academy Pep Guardiola “We wanted (Harry) Maguire and didn’t buy him because we didn’t want to pay, we wanted (Marc) Cucurella and didn’t pay, we wanted Alexis Sanchez and didn’t pay. “In the end we will pay what is fair to do it. Otherwise, we have the academy.” Guardiola was adamant he was not criticising Chelsea, but the Catalan clearly feels a sense of double standards. “They can do what they want,” he added. “I don’t criticise Chelsea for one second. I’m saying, if we do it, we are dead, all around the world. They can do whatever they want… “If they want to spend, I don’t know, £900million since (Boehly) arrived, 900 more, 900 more. They have it. The business is the business. They sell a lot this season so they can do it. “I don’t like when they criticise me, what we do, what I have to say. Everyone has their own business and everyone does what is best for the club. “Everybody wins. Tell me the truth: are you enjoying a lot the transfer window? This player, the other one, every few minutes on Sky TV, a new player here, new player there. It’s so funny.” This summer’s transfer window has been shaken up by the influx of cash from the ambitious Saudi Pro League, with City having sold Riyad Mahrez to Al-Ahli and accepted an offer from Al-Nassr for Aymeric Laporte. “Everybody complains about Saudi Arabia, the clubs, then they open the door, red carpet, ‘What do you want my friend?'” Guardiola said. “They sell everything. They are so happy. Everyone complains but everyone opens the door.” With De Bruyne set for surgery on a hamstring injury, Guardiola said he was speaking to director of football Txiki Begiristain about their options in the window. “We maybe need to add someone else,” Guardiola said. “My opinion is I like a small squad. But the blow from Kevin changes the perspective. He is a very important player and it is not one or two weeks. “It’s four or five months, he’s 32 years old and he needs to be physical because of the way he plays physically. So we have to reflect a bit on the squad and think about what we have to do but we have to control. “But we are not the only ones spending a lot of money in the last few years.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Top seed Iga Swiatek fights back to reach Western and Southern Open semi-finals Chris Wood heads home late winner as Nottingham Forest see off Sheffield United Theo Walcott retires – Friday’s sporting social