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Manchester United's Park Ji-Sung: Come In Number 13, Your Time Is Up
He's been a vital squad player for Manchester United but his performances this season have been woeful. He's not a winger, nor a holding midfielder, and it looks like he has reached the end of the line...
The last game that I saw Park play in was the second leg of the Europa League last 16 tie against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames stadium in Basque country. In retrospect, It was up there (or down there rather) as one of Manchester United’s poorest performances of all time. And at the heart of our hopeless midfield was the man himself.
Fans will surely say Patrice Evra trumps him as far and away United’s worst player this season, but even they can’t deny that Evra has still been a potent attacking threat down the left wing. There’s no denying the fact that defensively, the Frenchman frequently looks like Napoleon with two right legs but he has been quite effective going forwards, which is rather admirable, considering the injury crisis(es) we’ve had. Add to that Ashley Young’s protean form, and Evra’s attacking contribution has been much needed.
But this isn’t about Evra. It’s about United’s misfiring Asian frog-eater. Coming back to that Athletic game, it was among Park’s poorest performances in that red shirt. I remember thinking when the teams came out for the second half “why in the name of all that is holy is that man still on the pitch”?
Evidently, I wasn’t alone in thinking that. On Ten Sports (that’s the channel featuring UCL and EL in India) Carlton Palmer had been screaming his head off during the half time show about Park: “They’re playing around Sung Ji-Park! They’re playing around Sung-Ji Park.” Twitter was awash with fans, journos and pundits all up in arms when they saw that Ferguson hadn’t taken the South Korean off after a calamitous first half performance. My Facebook newsfeed was sagging under all the “WTF IS PARK DOING?!!!” statuses popping up one after the other. And the mayhem continued in the second half as Park and United were deservedly dumped out of a competition Ferguson had claimed “we’re in it to win it.”
The South Korean’s form has been deteriorating slowly for a while
If this was an isolated incident, I’d have been more than happy to say it was a one off. Everyone has bad days. Berbatov had one at Wembley against City, Giggs had bad days against Bilbao and poor Andy Carroll seems to be having one everyday. But in Park’s case this was no one off. The South Korean’s form has been deteriorating slowly for a while now but unlike Evra, Park’s seems to be rather less widely documented.
The last truly great game that I saw Park play was the second leg of last season’s Champions League quarter final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. United won the game 2-1 and went onto the finals for the third time in 4 years. The game was Park at his brilliant best. Drogba had just canceled out Hernandez’s first half opener but within 40 seconds, United were ahead again, when Ryan Giggs’s cross found Park on the edge of the box and he finished it expertly beyond Čech with an unnaturally good finish.
The game showed exactly why Sir Alex valued Park so highly. The Korean was at his running, combative best- fighting every 50-50, chasing after the Chelsea midfield and doggedly closing down spaces left in between the lines. He was a whirling dervish on the pitch, with his intelligent use of space and time, hard work off the ball and moreover scoring the decisive second goal which killed any sort of Chelsea fightback.
Sadly however, those performances are no more. Pas plus. Nicht mehr. Non più. Or in plain Korean, 더 많은 것 아닙니다. Whatever that means. Its been pretty much downwards for Park since that game.
The Champions League final for instance, was a new personal low for Park
Take the match against Arsenal at the Emirates in May – Park, who started the match had arguably one of the worst performances he has ever had in the red (technically black) shirt. He kept giving the ball away, tackled no one but himself and was usually seen dribbling the ball in the general direction of Edwin van der Sar. Guess who was supposed to be marking Aaron Ramsey when he scored for Arsenal? Yup, it was Park. I strongly recommend checking out the highlights of the match on YouTube – it shows Ramsey gliding past a presumably asleep Park and shoot throw a crowd of United players to score. The last person to even attempt to stop the Welshman wasn’t Park, it was Michael Carrick with a despairing lunge.
With every match since, this has been the general tone of Park’s performances for United. The Champions League final for instance, was a new personal low for Park. Sir Alex left out Nani to make way for Park in the starting eleven and the South Korean promptly put in such a catastrophically useless performance it was no minor miracle United only lost by 2 goals. Placed in the center of the pitch and asked to man mark Xavi, Park ended up chasing only shadows as Barça ran riot at Wembley and highlighted all the flaws in the United midfield – an alarming lack of depth, an over-dependance on ageing players and the lack of a truly world class talent to hold everything together.
Park’s poor form has followed him into the new season. Of the 3 games United have lost this season, Park has started 2 of them – Newcastle and Blackburn (thankfully, he wasn’t even in the squad to face City). Sir Alex plays Park nowadays almost exclusively as a destroyer, a person to stop the opposition from playing, an erstwhile Roy Keane if possible. At that, Park has failed spectacularly. Matches against Newcastle, the home loss to Ajax and both defeats against Bilbao showed that when placed in the center of the pitch, Park is pretty much useless. As Carlton Palmer pointed out so effectively, everyone just plays around Park, so he has to resort to running after them, which eventually leaves even bigger gaps in the middle. Since United do not have anyone intelligent enough to cover that space effectively, the end result is rather predictable.
Why has Park become a liability all of a sudden?
The one game where Park was asked to be the creator-in-chief, Blackburn at home, was a disaster as well. Remember the bizarre Park-Rafael combination as our central midfield pairing? Yeah that one. Cataclysmic failure.
Why has Park become a liability all of a sudden? Why is it that the man Rio Ferdinand one described as an “underrated, real top player” become so poor all of a sudden?
Part of the reason is his age – 31. His game is one of very high intensity, defined by combative aggressive play and much running off the ball. The older he gets, the more difficult it will become for him to keep at this sort of high pressure football, so he will have to mould his game to suit his limits, something Ryan Giggs, Raúl and Francesco Totti have all done. Against Bilbao, the Park of old would’ve harassed the midfield into submission, but as we all saw, the Park of new simply gave up and threw his hands up.
Another reason is his lack of a well defined position in the team. When Park retires, he’ll probably be described as a ‘winger’ or a ‘holding midfielder’. In truth he’s neither. He isn’t a winger because he hasn’t got the pace of Valencia, the trickery of Nani or the consistent crossing of Ashely Young. And he isn’t a holding midfielder because he hasn’t got the awareness, the mentality or the sheer willpower to be one. He is definitely no Roy Keane. But what he is, is a jack of all trades. A proverbial master of none.
I’ve personally never been much of a Park fan, but I’ve always respected what he does. As Rio put it, he brings something different to the team. He is always more than eager to do the dirty work for the team, the unglamorous job of running around, knocking people off the ball and mopping up the left overs, a bit like a Sean William Scott in ‘Goon’. And for that, I’ll always admire him, regardless of what happens to him. I truly believe that he has been an integral, if often underrated part of the club for a long while and for that legacy to be enshrined in gold, I want him to come back to form in style, and help lift number 20.
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COMMENTS
I have to agree with you, Parks work rate and professionalism cannot be faulted, he also makes intelligent runs which have led to the goals he has scored for the reds. However his effectiveness has been diminishing generally, he is not good enough as a centre mid player, he can do a job but he is not a natural midfielder. I think due to his age and with the need to freshen up the utd midfield I think he maybe one to go this summer. I feel his time is up, maybe also Anderson too. time to give pogba a real chance, against fulham giggs played as a centre mid and IMO he was terrible and I thought surely pogba could have done a better job given the chance but he wasn't even on the bench. I think if we can buy another midfielder ie javi Martinez, muniain, etc someone who has great mobility and speed, passing skills and an ability to close down the opposition then i think you have found the holding midfielder we need - IMO I think this can be Pogba and then add to the centre mid a creative player with good vision and movement this is what we need too.
You see what your biased little mind want to see. A typical park basher, you are, regurgitating the same jibberish blaming year after year until park proves himself, once again with an important contribution. But you never seem to spend any space writing about that, do you? Non-fans only do the bashing, the complaining. Totally biased thinking that doesn't do anyone any good.
Why are people always so desperate to call time on a player's career? I bet you were on the bandwagon about 7/8 years ago proclaiming the end of Giggs. I bet you were calling for Rio to retire last year. Park never whines or complains and is a greatexample to our younger players. He's not had a great season at all but he's been a loyal servant to United and with the current trend at United of everyone who plays in the same position getting injured at the same time he's still a good lad to have around, he's not had his last good game for us yet.
FYI, I didn't write the title of this piece and nor have I called on Park to retire at any point, so please do read the piece before opening your traps. As I've said clearly, I've always respected the job he's done for us over the years, and have always felt that he has been an integral if oft under appreciated part of the squad for 6-7 years now. I want him to keep on playing until he retires, hopefully at Old Trafford itself. All I wanted to point out is that this hasn't been his best of seasons and that fans (me included) would like it if he went back to his best form. So please, ignore the title and read the article properly before belching one me.
Park isn't all that good no, and I've never been a massive fan, but he doesn't half try. You get the impression he'd play for United for nowt, and has popped up over the years with vital goals. He's a decent back-up, hence why he's still there. In other news, this piece needs a proper editing, mistakes and that through it.
Good article, agree with almost everything you say. And like you said, this is no reason to criticise Park, he has played (and often exceeded) his natural ability with United and should go down as a cult hero with a fantastic contribution to our success. I don't want him to leave as such, but the fact is we have Cleverley and Carrick who are top midfielders in great form, Scholes and Giggs as experienced back ups, three great wingers and Pogba as youth-in-waiting. There is little room for Park now, especially if Fletch returns next season. It would break my heart to see him leave though. DON'T SELL MY PARK - MY JI-SUNG-PARK I JUST DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND - COS IF YOU SELL MY PARK - MY JI-SUNG PARK - YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A RIOT ON YOUR HANDS....
Your man has one bad season and the jury's out on him! Try being a Forest fan. I'll tell you afew stories about poor players, managers and performances.
This is a good piece, and I agree with almost all of what is written. I rather like Park, but I've felt that his influence and what he does on the pitch has been on the wane for a while now. Still, big crowd puller in Asia
I agree with some of the criticisms, and I would have much preferred you stick to your original theme and stick to the criticism til the end. I think it's a bit disingenuous to end the piece with praises, and then telling those that have issues with your bashing "look! read my piece properly, i'm not bashing him entirely!! read my piece!!" Be a man and stick to what you really want to say - don't try to cover your bases! also "United’s misfiring Asian frog-eater." - man, come on. That's name-calling, arguably on the fence of being derogatory.
JJ Mahoney- fair point mate. Maybe I should have stuck to the criticisms, but I just felt that he has had his moments for the club as well, and that those shouldn't be ignored outright. But essentially yes, I probably strayed off topic.
Anandu - you're a hack. Funny someone is always calling out a player as declining or that it's their time to retire -we'll see.
mate, if you really think Park isn't in decline, you need an optometrist
I think there a couple things here. First, you are choosing to ignore the games he has played well in. Last season before he left for Asia, he saved us in multiple consecutive fixtures. Ask Wolves who think they hated most last year from our squad. Its difficult for a casual watcher to say that he had an awful game when a midfielder or supposed attacking outlet does not have a statistic to show for his performance. This season, he may not have his goals/assists numbers where it should be, but his passing has always been reliable and his positioning is good as ever. Fergie is not using him in a particular position be it winger or center midfield, but more in a role, which is to make sure things are ticking over. Pick up the ball from someone, pass it on, fill the spaces. And I don't think there is anyone better on our squad than that than Ji with the exception of Scholes. To that end, I think his game has been fine and doesn't deserve much criticsm. Could he do as well as he did last year? Of course, but he has his age, and we are starting to push kids through so his match fitness will never be as sharp as it was from September to December 2010 when he had had a full pre-season and consistent run of games. So how is it fair to fault him for that? Since you mention the Ajax game, I should also mention that he actually had the most tackles and highest number of passes. True story. Look up the statistics yourself. I think criticism is thrown his way because many supporters (though mostly non-United fans) who still to this day don't understand what his tactical purpose is, keep expecting more of an Nani-esque winger or Scholes-esque midfielder out of him. He is an unique player and Fergie uses him in an unique way. So to try to fit him into a traditional position bracket and hold him to a conventional standard is not a good way to look at Ji. His role at our club is unique, and in my opinion, it's been crucial for our consistency over the time he's been here. For full disclosure, I'm a convert. Started ranting about him in 2004, but over the years I've recognized his qualities and understood how we use him, I've become highly appreciative of his ability, loyalty, and character. I'm thinking that once that same understanding gets to you, you'll judge Ji by his own standard, because he Ji's position is Ji, not winger, playmaker, or holding Midfielder.
Darren, first of all, this isn't comparing Park's current season to his last season. This specifically deals with Park and his form in this campaign. I recollect the Wolves game(s). True, they were among his best, but you've left out many where he as been disappointing. Sometimes excessively so. "His passing has always been reliable and his positioning has been as good as ever" Please get a grip mate, obviously you haven't been watching any of the games he's played this season (not last or the one before). I admit he's been a good player, but this time around, he has been more of a liability. His passing has been poor, nowhere as good as you've mentioned. Keeps giving the ball away or trips over his own feet. As for his positioning and awareness, well you may have seen Blackburn, Newcastle and the Europa league I presume. Did he display any semblance of awareness? For someone who is often called a big game player, he's gone missing in almost all the games he's played. And your statistics make me laugh - Most tackles and attempted passes? How many of those tackles were successful? How many passes were accurate? I can very well say Rooney was the best player against Blackburn because he had the highest number of shots. But he had no goals and a lesser on-target percentage than Valencia. I never expect a Scholes-esque or a Nani-esque performance from him simply because he has nowhere near the same ability as them. Of course he has been very very good over the years and I've mentioned that, but I'm not looking at his past here. And once again, I've never hated him, I've never liked him. I think he's there for a reason and as long as he does it, I'm perfectly happy about it. But the fact is, he hasn't been doing whatever job he's supposed to do for some time now, and that's what I'm unhappy about.
Anandu - face it you're calling Park out just as so many other untalented hacks do to other players as soon as there is something to pick at. Ebb and flow my hack friend, ebb and flow.
Oh and Anandu my vision is fine. I'm just not a hack writer who jumps at the chance to critize a player during a slump.
Typo - criticize
hey Nonsense, read this again and tell me where I've said Park should retire.
I said, as the hack you are, you jump at the chance to critize somoene off form. I said you are amongst the same hacks, "somone" that always cry out for someone to retire. If I have to break this down any further I suggest you retire.
Anandu Unnikrishnan, your article is bias and you totally have issues against Park. Maybe your interpretation of football is deteriorating (or you've never had the skills to understand the game itself). I suggest you get yourself sorted before slinging your bias opinions around. PARK JI SUNG plays a vital unique role for united and have executed these different positions with great success. Do not try and fit him into a position as a result of your limited understanding of the game. Age is not on Park's side and this season might not have been his best, but lets not forget what he has done for United. Do yourself a favour and keep your hands away from writing about football, since you know NOTHING about the BEAUTIFUL GAME!
First of all, you don't know whether I watch all the games or none of them. As a journalist, you should know better than anyone that football viewership is a subjective matter. What you might see doesn't translate to what everyone else sees. So maybe its not best to react like you're in some pub argument. Anandu, what I meant to say is that he had the most successful tackle percentage and highest pass percentage in that ajax game. I did my research, maybe its time you do yours before you decide if you want to laugh at my statistics or not. I disagree with you on two levels. One, I don't think he's had a bad season as you say. And obviously, it seems like my fellow United supporters agree with me. I can only speak for myself, and I haven't felt like he's let us down on the pitch this season. Has he been as great as he was during our Champions League run last year? No. But he has still done what is expected of him. Two, I think that his number is hardly up, even if his performances this year are construed as sub-par by individuals such as yourself, simply because he hasn't been given a steady run of games. You can't not give a player a steady run of games and expect him to perform spectacularly, and then tell him to "hang up his shirt." That's sheer naivete to say that. If we should tell players to hang up their boots after alleged average performances caused by lack of match fitness, should we have told Ash to bugger off during his bad stretch a month back? Should we have sold Nani before he got his latest knock? By the way, it shocks me that you can ask Nonsense where you said Park should retire. The title of your article reads: "Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung: Come In Number 13, Your Time Is Up." Pathetic mate. Honestly.
Anandu, my hack friend, don't leave the discussion now...
Park has been a curse on us this year. In every competition we've crashed out of - he was on the pitch putting in dismal performances. Palace, Liverpool, Basel, Ajax, Bilbao, Newcastle and Blackburn have all benefitted this season from Park's lack of ability on the ball and his quickly deteriorating pace, stamina and work rate. It's a shame - because in seasons gone by he's put in marvellous peformances against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal, but it definitely is the end of the road for him at United. He might not be sold in the Summer, because of his willingness to sit on the bench, but he will be lucky if he's granted a dozen substitute appearances next season, and he probably won't even make the bench for the big matches. And if Evra is not careful he may well be following suit, if we sign someone of Baines' calibre in the Summer.
calling someone an asian frog eater is frankly childish and quite derogatory. you don't have to be insult or humiliate someone to get your point across. it's low level journalism and makes your article not worthy of being read from that comment alone.
respectfully i have to agree. I fail to see how calling someone a frog eater helps make your point without making you come across as a very crass person.
I am a huge Park fan- he's been my favourite player since he moved to Manchester and I'm british. I agree Park didn't have the best of seasons, but you cannot deny he still is of importance to Manchester United. He had the best season of his Red's career last season (2010-2011) and I believe every Reds fan wants him to return to that form. And he will, Sir Alex just needs to play him more. And that said- in pre season he was one of United's best players in America- but he never got to show that in the season. I look forward to his return to form.
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