Manchester United frustrated fans on Monday night with a disappointing performance against Everton but Benjamin Sesko will be very annoyed.
Ruben Amorim is back in a tough situation at Manchester United, without a win in three games, and the performance against Everton earned plenty of criticism.
It was a 10-man Everton side that beat United at Old Trafford, with the lack of attacking creativity the main source of frustration over the defeat.
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It is known that United struggle to break down low blocks under Amorim, and against Everton, this problem reared its head once again, resulting in a very tough-to-watch 90 minutes.
As a result, United resorted to shots from range and hopeless crosses to try and get past a stubborn David Moyes’ low-block.
Benjamin Sesko controls ball while warming up for Manchester United.
Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
Manchester United’s use of crosses against Everton was baffling
United struggled with Joshua Zirkzee up front, as the Dutchman was no doubt not completely match fit, having barely played this season.
However, the injury to Benjamin Sesko meant that Zirkzee was next in line to start up front for the Red Devils, albeit to limited success. Despite being 6ft 4in, Zirkzee is not formidable in the air, yet United focused on crosses to no success.
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Crossing Impact
ð¸ð® The Benjamin Sesko Effect | 2025/26 ð¸ð®
Without Sesko, United reverts to high-volume “panic crossing”. With him, volume drops, but efficiency skyrockets.
Metric ✔ With Sesko ✖ Without
Crosses Per Game ~15.6 Controlled 38.0* Forced
Accurate Crosses 5.2 1st in PL < 3.0 Low Connect
Success Rate 33.3% ~7.8%
Despite usually having the dominant 6ft 5in striker Sesko up front, who is dominant in the air, United, for some reason, persisted with the crossing. With Sesko, United’s crosses are over four times more effective at finding their target.
United are usually pretty good at crosses for this reason, with Sesko’s aerial dominance a big benefit for the team, but against Everton, it was a glaring weakness as crosses were lumped aimlessly into the box.
This was a terrible decision to lean so heavily on this instead of trying to open up Everton, and it raises one really big question.
Benjamin Sesko will be frustrated as Manchester United play to his strengths without him
While it was a bad plan against Everton without Sesko, if the Slovenian was leading the line, it would have been a fairly intelligent manner of scoring, as he is so effective aerially.
Where did Joshua Zirkzee go wrong against Everton?
Joshua Zirkzee vs Everton
Metric Value
Goals 0
Assists 0
Total Shots 3
Accurate Passes 15/25 (60%)
Chances Created 2
Expected Goals(xG) 0.35
Penalty boxtouches 5
With 38 crosses forced into no focal point against Everton, Sesko will have been watching and wondering why he isn’t getting this many opportunities to contest crosses into the box.
Sesko alone wins 47 per cent of his aerial duels, and so this could have been a really beneficial tactic to have with him in the team.
But the crosses against Everton felt like desperation, and it didn’t benefit anyone, similar to the way United play when Sesko is in the team, trying to walk the ball into the net, which doesn’t help the big number nine.
Amorim needs to go back to the drawing board offensively because the current plan is not working.