Miedema makes mark as central striker to give Manchester City attacking edge | Tom Garry | OneFootball

As the fourth official’s board was raised into the air at the start of the second half, you could almost feel the mood among the home fans inside the Joie Stadium lifting, their heartbeats stirring, their underbrewed cups of tea feeling just that little bit warmer. Not because the half-time DJ was wrapping up a rather noisy set. Well, perhaps for some. But principally because of the sight of a Dutchwoman wearing black gloves. Vivianne Miedema was coming on.

It was not that the player going off, the young winger Lily Murphy, had not played well. On the contrary, the 19-year-old held her own, starting against one of the best defences in Europe in the absence of the injured wingers Aoba Fujino and Lauren Hemp, and with Khadija “Bunny” Shaw’s hamstring problem ruling her out too, which had led to Mary Fowler playing centrally.

All of those injuries to attackers had made the initial news of Miedema only being named among the substitutes all the more concerning for Manchester City supporters, but they needn’t have worried.

Nick Cushing had simply been managing Miedema’s minutes with that original lineup selection, with the club still mindful that she has had to recover from multiple significant injuries in recent years, during this run of four consecutive games against Chelsea in the space of 12 days.

What she injected into the game straight away was purposeful and energetic off‑the‑ball movement to run in behind the last defender, stretch Chelsea’s centre-backs, and form a dangerous partnership with Kerolin, whose own position in the forward line had also been tweaked to give her more freedom and run directly at the Chelsea defence.

The Brazil forward was putting in her best display in a City shirt since her January arrival from North Carolina Courage, but it was Miedema’s instinct to be in the right place at the right time, to emphatically score on the rebound, that put the home side in front. She could have scored twice more, forcing Hannah Hampton into a classy stop before another low strike that was also saved but would not have counted because Miedema was offside. She was a constant menace for Nathalie Björn and Millie Bright, who must have been feeling hard done by after 90 exhausting minutes of battling with Shaw last Saturday.

Even before she had scored her second goal, the home fans’ most inventive lyricists were already singing their song for the former Arsenal forward, to the tune of a jingle made famous by a 1990s advert for McVitie’s BN biscuits, “Miedema, do doo do doo-do”. Soon they had the sweet taste of victory as she demonstrated how clinical she is with her precisely placed second.

A lack of ruthlessness is something that has been a hindrance this season for Manchester City, whose shot conversion rate of 19% is only the fifth highest in the WSL. Here on a night when fans had feared they would struggle for goals without the WSL’s top scorer Shaw, they had someone else up front who mastered the art of finishing years ago.

And after successive seasons of watching the WSL’s all-time leading goalscorer play as a No 10 or in midfield, for both Arsenal and City, it begs the question: isn’t this her best position? Perhaps Miedema should be playing as a central striker regularly. Something for Cushing to ponder.

Asked about Miedema’s strongest position, Cushing said: “For me, it’s about getting her closer to the goal. However, we set the team up, I don’t want to take Viv’s strengths away by having her deeper and working to get the ball back.”

At full time, the 28-year-old proceeded to exchange a “high 10” and a hug with every single City player. This is a happy Miedema. Last week she told the Guardian she had gone to City last summer because she needed something new. Here she showed her old position might still be her best.

Header image: [Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA]