With goals against Arsenal and Paris FC, the 22-year-old has made a fast start to the season. Can she maintain it ahead of the European Championship?
There is only so much you can learn from pre-season, but one of the biggest takeaways from Manchester City's summer tour of Australia was that no matter how head coach Gareth Taylor envisaged fitting Vivianne Miedema into his starting line-up, it could not come at the expense of Jess Park, the 22-year-old playmaker who has marked herself out as someone capable of playing a crucial role for both the Cityzens and England for many years to come.
On Sunday, as City opened their new Women's Super League season away to an Arsenal side expected to be a title rival, Park underlined just why so many felt that way. With the scores level at 1-1, she snatched a loose ball out of the air and, from 20 yards, showcased remarkable technique to fire it into the top corner to give City the lead.
While Miedema, the WSL's all-time top goal-scorer, came to the fore in the women's game as a No.9, in recent times she has been more prominent in a No.10 position she seemingly prefers. That is where she has been slotting into this City XI, but that is also where Park has made her own mark for the club.
Taylor took a risk on Sunday by playing them both, something which contributed to Arsenal carving out a number of chances on the counter and eventually taking a point from the game, which ended in a 2-2 draw. But goals from Park and Miedema also showed the reward such team selection brings. The young England star has a big future for club and country – and the City boss has no small role to play in ensuring she can thrive alongside his marquee summer signing.
Getty Images SportAttack-minded approach
In a way, it wasn't a surprise to see both Park and Miedema in City's line up on Sunday. After all, they briefly played in the same midfield in pre-season and both started, and scored, in the 5-0 thrashing of Paris FC just a few days earlier. Plus, they are two of City's best players, so it made sense for both to be involved from the get-go in such a big game.
However, the defensive risk that a midfield featuring two very attack-minded players presents was evident throughout the match. The gap from City's centre-backs and Yui Hasegawa, in holding midfield, to Miedema and Park in their more advanced positions was often huge and there for Arsenal to exploit when they recovered the ball. That's not to say City's playmakers don't work hard and commit to their defensive work, more that they have a lot of ground to make up because of the structure of the midfield and the demands of the team's pressing.
AdvertisementGetty Images'Have to be on the front foot'
No one will have had a better view of that than Taylor, who took a seat right up in the top tier of the Emirates Stadium for the first hour of the match. "It's tough," he said of the space. "We understand that we give up some territory when we press the way we do. We press a lot with our wingers, that's no secret, and then obviously you can be kind of disjointed with the back four and Yui, but the players have to do it. We have to be on the front foot.
"I think our pressing wasn't on it today, whereas in Paris on Wednesday, it was phenomenal and it just allowed us to dictate the pace of the game and play almost like a half-pitch practice, and that was our intention today. At times we did that. When we got it right, we forced them into mistakes that allowed us to maintain possession then around the edge of their box. We were close to it today and it's always like half a metre here or there that we're not quite in the right positions. But there's plenty to build on, for sure."
Getty ImagesHigh risk, high reward
What is a concern is that, because City are one of the best teams in England, most opponents will attempt to play on the counter when they come up against them, and they will be further encouraged by the gaps they saw appear in the Arsenal game on Sunday, particularly when the Gunners beat the press.
What are Taylor's alternatives? He could beef up the midfield with a player not as attack-minded as Miedema or Park and drop one of them to the bench. He could push Miedema into the No.9 role at the expense of Khadija Shaw, who won the WSL Golden Boot last season. He could move Park into a wide role, where there is already ample competition in Chloe Kelly, Lauren Hemp, Mary Fowler and Aoba Fujino. Essentially, if he wants Park and Miedema in the same team, in roles that they excel in, without sacrificing something significant elsewhere, it is only with some risk.
Many thought it would be a case of one or the other and that, given her world-class talent, Miedema would win that battle for inclusion in a first-choice XI. However, that Taylor is choosing to play both underlines just how important Park is to his team. That is a real testament to the work she has put in throughout 2024.
Getty ImagesPatience is a virtue
After all, 12 months ago, Park wasn't starting for City. Through the first 13 weeks of the 2023-24 WSL season, she had made just nine appearances, all from the bench. Her total game time stood at just 151 minutes.
She kept working hard though, approaching those opportunities with a determined attitude while taking her chances to shine in the League Cup, in which she made five starts, scored two goals and registered one assist before City were eventually defeated by Chelsea in the semi-finals.
