Benjamin Sesko has really sparkled over the last two months under Michael Carrick. The striker, who will be what Rasmus Hojlund never managed to do at Old Trafford, a pure striker who cracks the Premier League codes and delivers 15, 20, 30 goals every season. Sesko has finally started to find his place, but the local newspaper in Manchester is still sounding the alarm.
The striker, worth around €77 million, has four goals to his name in the last six Premier Leagues, several game-deciding goals. Against Newcastle, however, the 22-year-old was on the pitch from the start and for 90 minutes. Zero shots, zero chances created and only 24 touches of the ball were the result. In a game United really needed production from a striker position, where Newcastle won 2-1 with two men on the pitch in the second half.
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The Manchester Evening News shouts a little warning. Sesko’s working conditions show frightening similarities to Højlund’s.
“His heatmap was also a concern, with the striker disappearing out to the left to receive the ball while his teammates failed to bring him into the game. It was a copy of Høylund at its worst. But like the Dane, Sesko also lived on “leftovers”. It was unforgivable, and while Hojlund and Sesko take some of the blame for not creating opportunities for themselves, it can also be shared with their teammates,” begins the Manchester Evening News.
“One of the most important improvements under Carrick has been United’s return to winger play and getting the ball into the box. It’s something Sesko uses, and if United do that, they can be devastating. But this style left them at St. James’ Park. Despite playing against ten men, they struggled to create chances. The defeat in the northeast must be a wake-up call for United. This loss “was coming.”
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“United struggled to create chances in the last few games but were saved by Sesko who came to the rescue and scored from nowhere – like against West Ham. However, United can’t count on it to happen every time, especially when creative players like Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Fernandes don’t give opportunities to their striker. The best way to maintain Sesko’s confidence will be to keep scoring, but if the chances are not created, those goals will stop permanently, as we saw with his predecessor, Hojlund. Newcastle was a warning for United, and it will be up to both the creative players and Sesko to prove that the lessons have been learned,” the local newspaper concludes.
