Ben Wylie

Good day for your theory @jonnysinger.bsky.social!

Euro 2025 semifinals: How do you tactically beat each team? Euro 2025 is down to the final four. But what tactical approach is best to defeat the remaining teams: England, Italy, Spain or Germany?

🚨New for ESPN

The quarter-finals produced some really exciting games & we are down to the final 4.

Italy, England, Spain & Germany

But what weaknesses can one target vs each of the final 4? I try to shed some light on it!

(sorry for the small error about 🇮🇹 comeback)

www.espn.in/football/sto...

The latest edition of Plot the Ball just went out to subscribers!

Covered this week:

🏏 Shubman Gill and India’s selection
🏉 the Wallabies’ leaky defence
🎾 Iga Świątek’s strong serving on grass
⚽️ Ann-Katrin Berger’s play in goal for Germany
⚾️ Shohei Ohtani’s pitch selection for the Dodgers

🏏 Shubman Gill’s leap gives India a strong batting core — but their selection remains conservative My Week in Sport(s) 🏏 🏉 🎾 ⚽️ ⚾️

You can read and subscribe at the link below:
www.plottheball.com/p/shubman-gi...

The latest edition of Plot the Ball just went out to subscribers!

Covered this week:

🏏 Shubman Gill and India’s selection
🏉 the Wallabies’ leaky defence
🎾 Iga Świątek’s strong serving on grass
⚽️ Ann-Katrin Berger’s play in goal for Germany
⚾️ Shohei Ohtani’s pitch selection for the Dodgers

A line chart showing Caitlin Clark's assists and turnovers over time at NCAA and WNBA level. At the start of her WNBA career, her assists dipped before quickly recovering; her turnover rate has remained high, and has actually increasedd so far in 2025.

Caitlin Clark returned to WNBA action from injury on Wednesday — and I wrote about her passing in this week’s edition of Plot the Ball 📊🏐.

Also featured are some things I learned about Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Joseph Sua’ali’i, Sam Konstas and Jordan Spieth.

Looked into this quickly and found data for 12 of Folau's starts at fullback in his debut Super Rugby season. He kicked 0.7 times per 80 minutes, and opposing fullbacks kicked 3.6 times!

The reason why we watch sport, athletes like that!

Ha I am hyped, just think he looks better at 13 for now! That’s an interesting one — will see how good the Super Rugby stats archives are and get back to you.

www.plottheball.com/p/caitlin-cl...

A line chart showing Caitlin Clark's assists and turnovers over time at NCAA and WNBA level. At the start of her WNBA career, her assists dipped before quickly recovering; her turnover rate has remained high, and has actually increasedd so far in 2025.

Caitlin Clark returned to WNBA action from injury on Wednesday — and I wrote about her passing in this week’s edition of Plot the Ball 📊🏐.

Also featured are some things I learned about Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Joseph Sua’ali’i, Sam Konstas and Jordan Spieth.

What Penn State is really buying with Gavin McKenna Let's talk about one of the biggest stories in hockey.

Yes, it's about trying to win. But for Penn State, reportedly spending $700,000 on Gavin McKenna is about way more than just trying to win the 2026 NCAA Title.

My latest at Shap Shots.

www.shapshotshockey.com/p/what-penn-...

🏉 Test hopeful Henry Pollock brings youthful energy — and inexperience — to the Lions pack My Week in Sport(s) 🏉 ⚽️ 🏏 ⚾️ ⛳️

British & Irish Lions test hopeful Henry Pollock was the focus of this week's edition of Plot the Ball 🏉📊.

Also covered: ⚽️ Iceland, ⚾️ Elly De La Cruz, 🏏 Shafali Verma and ⛳️ Aldrich Potgieter.

You can read and subscribe here: www.plottheball.com/p/test-hopef...

🏉 Test hopeful Henry Pollock brings youthful energy — and inexperience — to the Lions pack My Week in Sport(s) 🏉 ⚽️ 🏏 ⚾️ ⛳️

British & Irish Lions test hopeful Henry Pollock was the focus of this week's edition of Plot the Ball 🏉📊.

Also covered: ⚽️ Iceland, ⚾️ Elly De La Cruz, 🏏 Shafali Verma and ⛳️ Aldrich Potgieter.

You can read and subscribe here: www.plottheball.com/p/test-hopef...

⚽️ Spain stand apart from their rivals — but are still a long way from triumphing at Euro 2025 My Week in Sport(s) ⚽️ 🏏 🏀 🎾 🏉

📊🏐✉️

Covered in this week’s edition of Plot the Ball: ⚽️ Spain, 🏏 England, 🏀 Jonquel Jones, 🎾 Jannik Sinner and 🏉 Leinster.

Read — and subscribe — here!

www.plottheball.com/p/spain-stan...

⚽️ Spain stand apart from their rivals — but are still a long way from triumphing at Euro 2025 My Week in Sport(s) ⚽️ 🏏 🏀 🎾 🏉

📊🏐✉️

Covered in this week’s edition of Plot the Ball: ⚽️ Spain, 🏏 England, 🏀 Jonquel Jones, 🎾 Jannik Sinner and 🏉 Leinster.

Read — and subscribe — here!

www.plottheball.com/p/spain-stan...

Will the Lions tour save Australian rugby? The Counter Ruck Podcast

What if rugby had to compete with a professional GAA? Or a better paid League of Ireland?

Jonathan Drennan, a Belfast man in Sydney, breaks down Australian rugby's struggles in a warning to Irish rugby

New pod: Will the Lions tour save Aussie rugby? 👂 ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/the...

VizDex A library of personal and independent blogs and newsletters dedicated to data visualization.

Introducing VizDex!

An ever-growing library of personal and independent blogs and newsletters dedicated to data visualization.

vizdexproject.com

The Athletic is covering cricket

Euro 2025 breakout stars: Which U21 players will shine? Euro 2025 will offer some young players the chance to shine, and there are a number of impressive U21 stars looking to do just that.

🚨New for @espn

International tournaments are premier events for young talents to shine. With the WEuros coming up, I looked at five U21 players to look out for

-Swedish Striker
-Swiss Genius

& more!

(PS: These aren't the only ones who will shine😅)

www.espn.in/football/sto...

Deconstructing Nico Paz A player out of time, Como's creator is even better than you think

Nico Paz simultaneously represents the traditional image of a playmaking 10 as well as the 10's modern incarnation. For @scoutedftbl.com, here's 2.5k+ words onhis skillset and why I think he's one of the best attacking midfield prospects around. Subscribe and read!

scoutedftbl.com/nico-paz-dec...

Luke Bornn: Toulouse, Teamworks and making a different with data Luke Bornn has been a leading figure in sports analytics for more than a decade. In this episode he discussed his groundbreaking work with Toulouse, focusing on the things that matter, why AZ Alkmaar ...

Every high-level decisionmaker at a club should be strapped to the Clockwork Orange chair and forced to read this interview

🎾 The consistent Jannik Sinner has a crucial role in the new rivalry atop men’s tennis My Week in Sport(s) 🎾 🏀 ⚾️ ⚽️ 🏏

Another edition of Plot the Ball 📊🏐✉️ just went out to subscribers.

Covered this week:

🎾 Jannik Sinner
🏀 the New York Liberty
⚾️ Shohei Ohtani
⚽️ Clàudia Pina
🏏 Shubman Gill

You can read and subscribe here! www.plottheball.com/p/the-consis...

Carnage at Oakmont Podcast Episode · Hang Up and Listen · 16/06/2025 · 1h 3m

Some great context on the WNBA’s three-point shooting surge — which I covered briefly on Friday — from @benlindbergh.bsky.social in this week’s episode of Hang Up and Listen: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/h...

New York won its first WNBA title last year; here's why the Liberty are even better now Their perfect season ended Saturday, but the defending champs might be better than last year, with one notable weakness.

Took a look at the Liberty's first 10 games, including the troubling possibility for other teams that the defending champs might be even better this year despite Saturday's loss to the hot-shooting Fever: www.espn.com/wnba/story/_...

Plot the Ball | Ben Wylie | Substack Using data to tell better stories about sport. Click to read Plot the Ball, by Ben Wylie, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

With a bunch of new followers, I wanted to re-introduce myself 👋🏻.

Every Saturday, I publish a newsletter called Plot the Ball 📊🏐 — where I use data to tell better stories about sport.

To get this week’s edition in your inbox, subscribe here: www.plottheball.com

'The coolest one was Quade Cooper coming down for training in LA' Ballymena man Rory Corr has enjoyed several seasons in American rugby.

Ballymena man Rory Corr has had some cool experiences in US college rugby at UCLA over the last few years.

Really interesting to hear about them. He reckons lots of other Irish players could have a great time in the US: the42.ie/2637883t

I think there’s a mix of official and unofficial sources on that Tennis Abstract page, and it’s not clear exactly what’s from where — would imagine Grand Slams matches are the more likely ones to be from official sources rather than MCP.

🎾 The consistent Jannik Sinner has a crucial role in the new rivalry atop men’s tennis My Week in Sport(s) 🎾 🏀 ⚾️ ⚽️ 🏏

Another edition of Plot the Ball 📊🏐✉️ just went out to subscribers.

Covered this week:

🎾 Jannik Sinner
🏀 the New York Liberty
⚾️ Shohei Ohtani
⚽️ Clàudia Pina
🏏 Shubman Gill

You can read and subscribe here! www.plottheball.com/p/the-consis...

datagolf.com/live-blog/us...