Benjamin Sesko is starting to enjoy life at Manchester United, and his city rival, Erling Haaland, has just had a game that the United man should try to emulate.
As much as there is dislike for Man City, it is impossible to shy away from the fact that Erling Haaland is one of the best strikers in the world.
Therefore, by his standards, his recent cold streak in front of goal was becoming a hot topic of discussion. Gleefully so among Man Utd fans as Benjamin Sesko scored for fun.
However, Haaland’s latest game against Newcastle is the perfect template for Sesko to learn from if he is to take the leap from “exciting” to “world-class”.
Benjamin Sesko is averaging a goal every 48 minutes over his last six appearances
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Erling Haaland’s lesson for Benjamin Sesko
Sesko has been compared to Haaland all his career because of the similar trajectories of their careers through the Red Bull pipeline and their physical gifts.
However, their playing style is extremely different, because Sesko is much more than just a ruthless goalscorer.
Haaland is unstoppable at what he does, but Sesko’s physical tools and technical excellence theoretically hint at a higher ceiling if everything breaks right.
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It’s why Haaland used to look ineffectual when he wasn’t scoring, something that he’s starting to put right in recent games, punctuated by an irresistible game against Newcastle.
The game against Newcastle added to his list of blanks this season, but Haaland was simply unstoppable outside of scoring himself.
He won a ridiculous 12 duels during the game, was a defensive monster, assisted a goal, and ran to press like a man possessed.
With his shooting boots missing, he ran himself into the ground to make himself a nuisance for the opposition defenders, thereby creating space for his teammates.
It’s clear that his recent cold streak has forced him to evolve from being just a goalscorer, and against Newcastle, he proved that he can be a freak of nature when he puts his mind to it.
Therein lies the lesson for Sesko.
Sesko can separate himself from his predecessor
To Sesko’s credit, he was already having a good impact on games before he started scoring regularly, but Haaland’s game against Newcastle should be essential viewing for him now.
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Chance-creation is a team effort; nobody would expect him to put away every chance created, either, but making himself a nuisance for the opposition is the non-negotiable.
Standing out in a game by scoring goals is easy, and Man Utd would want him to keep doing it, but doing so without scoring as well is the mark of a complete striker.
That’s where Rasmus Hojlund sorely lacked, looking like a “10+1” in the team when he wasn’t scoring.
In the early days, when the goals weren’t coming, Sesko looked like he was on the same path as Hojlund, but he didn’t let that get him down.
Now that he’s scoring and in high spirits, it’s the best time to add those to his already existing skill set of affecting the game in multiple ways.
He only needs to look at what Haaland managed against Newcastle.
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