Josef Yarney scouting report - Macc’s new defender

Yarney’s strengths and weaknesses laid bare

Apart from visiting new grounds against more competitive teams, I’m looking forward to viewing extensive footage of Macclesfield’s opponents and accessing player data this season.

At Steps 3 and below, you’re largely reliant on attending games in person to conduct analysis – still the most important facet in football when forming judgement. However, being able to watch full-match videos of games and tap into a myriad of statistics can support (or challenge!) what your eyes are telling you.

Having taken out a DAZN subscription (the National League’s broadcast partner), I can view all Step 1 and several Step 2 games. So upon discovering that Macclesfield’s new central defender Josef Yarney played for Boreham Wood at the tail end of last season, I was intrigued to learn more about John Rooney’s first signing as Silkmen boss.

Yarney should feature in Macclesfield’s first pre-season friendly against League One Mansfield Town today in a game where Rooney is expected to field two different starting elevens in each half.

I provided an overview of Josef’s (rather nomadic!) playing career in my previous article along with opinions on him from supporters of his previous clubs, the majority of which were positive. But I wanted to take a closer look for myself.

Josef Yarney – what can Silkmen fans expect?

Yarney played 11 games for Boreham Wood in the National League South having signed a short-term deal with them in February. His performances in central defence helped the Wood gain promotion via the play-offs to the National League where I watched him play in the following games where his strengths (and weaknesses!) were very apparent:

• Play-off eliminator vs Dorking Wanderers, where Boreham Wood rallied from being 3-1 down to win 4-3 after extra-time in front of their own fans. In this game, Yarney was substituted after 74 minutes when the scoreline was 2-1. The substitution appeared tactical and I’ll come onto the possible reasons why later

• Play-off semi-final vs Torquay where Yarney completed the full 90 minutes in Wood’s 1-0 away win

• Play-off final vs Maidstone United at home. Yarney was withdrawn on 64 minutes due to injury after colliding with an opposition player, sustaining a knock to his knee. Josef immediately signalled to the bench that he couldn’t continue. Boreham Wood were leading 1-0 at the time and held on to seal promotion

Yarney’s strengths

• Confidence – the 27 year-old has played at all levels of the game, starting out as a youngster at Everton and Newcastle U23’s, to playing in Leagues One and Two, the National League (Steps 1 and 2) and even abroad for teams in India and Palestine. Yarney exudes calmness on the pitch and can clearly adapt to different playing environments

• Anticipation – Yarney is proactive in sensing and dealing with danger. He’s decisive in striding out to occupy the pocket between defence and midfield, enabling him to make timely clearances and interceptions to thwart attacks. Perhaps due to his confidence, he backs himself to win challenges both on the ground and in the air without hesitating.

Against Torquay (see stats above), Yarney’s best performance of the three matches I’ve seen him in, he won 8 out of the 12 ‘ground duels’ he contested and made 3 ‘clearances’. Versus Maidstone in the play-off final he made 3 clearances, 2 interceptions and won all 6 of his ground duels during the 64 minutes he was on the pitch. Yarney’s also decisive when coming to head the ball, although he doesn’t always get distance on them (see weaknesses below).

• Calmness in possession – Yarney isn’t a defensive playmaker, but he’s calm and safe in possession. He likes to make himself available to receive the ball from goalkicks and doesn’t panic if closed down in tight areas.

Josef is not what you’d describe as a ‘progressive’ passer, however he’s neat and tidy with the ball at his feet, has decent control and is capable of going short and long. He doesn’t just look to ‘hoof’ it aimlessly, and has the composure to chest the ball down and then look for a pass.

Against Torquay and Maidstone his passing accuracy was 79% and 76% respectively, which dipped to 71% versus Dorking when Boreham Wood were under the cosh for large parts of the game. According to football data stattos, a passing accuracy of 80% and upwards is classed as ‘good’ for a defender.

Yarney does seem to favour passing backwards or sideways to retain possession, or go long where some of his balls were overcooked for his forward teammates. In the games I saw him in, he rarely ventured into the midfield area or passed to a midfield colleague – something which Rooney may wish to address.

But overall, Yarney’s passes are crisp and played at pace. The only negative being that he almost entirely relies on his right foot and only uses his left to stand on!

Yarney’s weaknesses

• Over-eagerness – I cited Yarney’s ‘anticipation’ as one of his main strengths. Without wishing to sound contradictory, this can also be one of his failings. Twice in the opening five minutes against Dorking, Yarney came charging out but failed to dispossess the forward who easily brushed off his advances leaving Boreham Wood vulnerable defensively.

Yarney’s eagerness to try and win every challenge can sometimes undermine his aerial work. Rather than hold his position, Josef will quickly advance in an attempt to clear the ball but has a tendency to get underneath his headers, or mistime his jump entirely. This error of judgement almost led to an equalizer in injury time for Torquay when Yarney came out for a header, got nowhere near it, which resulted in a cross leading to a goalscoring opportunity which wasn’t converted.

Yarney’s enthusiasm is to be applauded, and clearly this attribute endeared him to Oldham and Tranmere fans in particular. Nevertheless, his decision-making may determine how successful he is in a Silkmen shirt.

• Aerial dominance – At 6’1, Yarney cuts a stocky and well-chiselled physique. This doesn’t make him a dominant and commanding centre back though, or certainly not in the games I saw him play for Boreham Wood. Although anything but a shrinking violet, Yarney can be outmuscled in aerial duels when up against burley Step 2 forwards.

This was evident in Dorking’s second goal which Yarney was at fault for, failing to get goalside of his opponent who easily held him off and got in front of Josef to meet the cross and head the ball into the net. A few minutes later, Yarney was again beaten to a glancing header in the penalty area which almost led to a third Dorking goal. It was no surprise when Boreham Wood’s manager Luke Gerrard decided to substitute him moments afterwards.

My impression of Yarney is that he is more of a ‘mopper upper’ than a dominant centre back who is going to lead from the back. Played alongside a strong defensive partner who will win most balls in the air, such as Rollin Menayese, should complement the ground competencies Yarney clearly has.

Josef has played as a right back and right wing-back before, most regularly for Chesterfield, but he isn’t as effective in these positions and doesn’t appear to have natural attacking instincts.

• Positional lapses – Yarney’s ability to win headers under pressure, or defend crosses into the box, could be his main weakness. From a positional aspect, he seems to really struggle to judge the flight and speed of crosses – often getting nowhere near to being able to clear his lines.

I’m not sure if this is because Yarney can’t readjust his feet in order to get set to be in position to divert the ball away, or because his positional sense is so poor that he’s often at a disadvantage against attackers from the outset.

In the examples I referenced in the Dorking game above (their headed goal and narrowly missed chance), at face value Yarney was outmuscled aerially. But in both instances his starting position (a couple of yards behind the attacker) immediately put him at a disadvantage to properly challenge for the ball. Hopefully with some minor tweaks, Macclesfield’s coaching staff can help Josef improve in this vital area, otherwise you wonder if opposition teams will try and exploit this obvious deficiency.

Yarney’s aerial defensive metrics are why you shouldn’t trust data in isolation as it only tells the story of what Yarney ‘did’ rather than perhaps the more telling detail of what he ‘didn’t’. Against Maidstone he won 7 out of 7 aerial duels, 11 out of 17 against Torquay and 9 out of 11 versus Dorking. But the two he didn’t win (according to these stats) directly led to one goal and could easily have resulted in another.

What don’t we know about Yarney?

Due to the direct nature of the games I watched Yarney play in, his defensive duties were largely centred on clearances and interceptions. I didn’t really get a sense of his pace and no one tried to take him on 1 v 1. Similarly I can’t comment (yet) on the precision of his tackling.

Of course, my initial assessment of Yarney is from a very small sample size – three matches, 228 minutes. If he can repeat his level of performances in the National League which endeared him to Oldham’s supporters, Macclesfield should have a defender who will thrive in the National League North and complement our already strong centre halves in Rollin Menayese, Lewis Fensome and Sam Heathcote.

Time will tell.