Manchester City F.C.
·28 August 2024
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Yahoo sportsManchester City F.C.
·28 August 2024
Gareth Taylor has been pleased with what he’s seen from summer signing Vivianne Miedema so far at City – and thinks there’s much more to come from her.
Miedema came on for the final 20 minutes in the Perth International Football Cup clash with Leicester and was heavily involved, seeing a header crash against the bar late on as City searched for a winner in normal time before scoring the winning penalty in the shoot-out.
City boss Taylor has been thrilled with the Dutch star’s impact and believes she will go from strength to strength the longer she’s at the club.
“I think Viv is a top player and she obviously has to learn our way now,” the boss said.
“She’s been at one place for a long time and has probably done things slightly different to what we do.
“But fair play, the early signs are really positive. She’s a top player, no doubt, and it’s about getting the ball to her in those situations where she can cause maximum problems.
“I thought she linked up well with Bunny and Jess at times and Yui as well. I thought in her 20-minute spell she was very good.
“I think we've seen really good signs from her and good leadership qualities and of course you've seen the quality where she dances through at the end.”
City won 4-3 on penalties at HBF Park, setting up a final tie with the winners of PSG versus West Ham.
Taylor says the shoot-out was a good test for his team.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say we prepared for that because we wanted to win the game in normal time,” he added.
“We make sure that we are not forcing people to take a penalty and no matter who it is in their career – it could be a regular penalty taker – they could be having a moment where they don’t feel super confident.
“So we really opened it up to that and the girls decided, some of them begrudgingly that yeah they’ll take one.
“I think it was good, a good opportunity to practice in that situation.
“I thought we should have had a penalty given right at the end of the game but I was pleased with the girls overall tonight.
“I thought it was a good game for us and we showed some good stuff at times.”