The blueprint for a midfield engine

Park Ji Sung - A Case Study

When people think about the great Manchester United teams that dominated the Premier League (and Europe for some time) from the mid 2000s to the early 2010s there are some common names that always spring to mind: Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Paul Scholes and so on. One name that is often forgotten is that of Park Ji Sung, United’s South Korean import. He would be an integral part of a series of teams that would win the Premier League four times and the Champions League once. This post will shine a light on some of his achievements and best attributes, displaying what you can learn from him.

A diamond in the rough

Park is the most successful Asian player of all time. He was part of the South Korean team that would reach the semi finals of the 2002 World Cup (albeit amongst some slightly dubious refereeing in their quarter final against Italy) and he was the first Asian player to win the Club World Cup and UEFA Champions League. To underplay his skill on the ball would be unfair, but the role he played for Manchester United was not a glamorous one most of the time. His work ethic on the pitch was frankly insane, and this hard work is the attribute that drove him to his success. 

The exemplification of this came in United’s last 16 tie with AC Milan in 2010. Andrea Pirlo is famed for his ability to dictate the pace of the game, and the midfield metronome was at the peak of his powers when playing at the base of the AC Milan midfield in 2010. Ferguson needed a way to stop him from exerting influence on the game - Ferguson gave the role of containing him to Park and this would prove to be an excellent decision on his part. Park would man mark Pirlo for the full ninety minutes, harassing his opponent constantly. Pirlo would fail to mark significant influence on the game, and United would win 7-2 on aggregate. Pirlo himself said in his autobiography - ‘Park must have been the first nuclear powered South Korean in history in the sense that he rushed about the pitch at the speed of an electron.’. Another comment from Pirlo about Park’s performance lays clear one of his defining characteristics - ‘His devotion to the task was almost touching. Even though he was a famous player, he consented to being used as a guard dog’. Many players would have been frustrated by the task of simply man marking a player all game but Park would give it his all. Park would sacrifice individual acclaim for the good of the team, not pining for goals and assists, and this quality ironically would single him out for this acclaim.

Big game player

Park scored 19 goals in 134 appearances for the Red Devils, his versatility allowing him to play all across the midfield. These figures may not stick out as exceptional, but Ferguson’s trust in Park to perform in big games paints a different picture. Park would play every minute of the quarter final and semi final ties on the way to the Champions League final in 2008. He would always perform in the big games, finding the net against Milan, Liverpool, Chelsea and scoring five against the Gunners over his time at the club. Ferguson could trust Park to not be selfish, to play out the role prescribed to him, and this unselfishness and single minded devotion to any task he was given is why he was so important to United. Rooney would say in an interview in May 2020 - ‘all of us who played with Park know that he was almost as important (as Ronaldo) to our success. That’s because of what Park gave to the collective’.

A lasting legacy

What can you learn from Park’s career? As with so many influential players it boils down to hard work. For Park to have the fitness to harry and harass the opposition week in, week out required hard work in training. What defines Park more than this is his willingness to sacrifice individual glory for the good of the team. Rooney would say that Park was ‘so good at sacrificing himself’, that he was vital to the team despite the fact he wouldn’t get the headlines. This single minded devotion to the team rather than individual pursuits is a quality that deserves to be mimicked, a quality that will drive a team to greatness. This is what we can learn from Park’s career. Often taking the centre stage as part of his national team, he was happy to sacrifice the stardom when at United, and this is what drove him to have such a successful career.

Is Park Ji Sung the perfect example of “hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard”? How do you go the extra mile for your team?