Manchester United take on Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon, and ahead of the clash, Michael Carrick has some big selection dilemmas to decide.
The attacking options at Manchester United are better than they have been in years, with four players currently fighting for three places in Michael Carrick’s team.
Benjamin Sesko is scoring for fun right now, staking his claim weekly to be starting games, while the favoured front three right now are also thriving.
Such luxury in attacking options grants Carrick the chance to catch the opposition off guard after the predictable days of Ruben Amorim.
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Michael Carrick’s attacking options will have Crystal Palace distracted
While Carrick has yet to start Sesko, after another goal against Everton, his chances of starting are greater than ever before this weekend against Palace.
However, the uncertainty of Carrick’s starting striker will be something keeping Oliver Glasner up at night ahead of the game at Old Trafford.
Sesko is a vastly different player from Matheus Cunha or Bryan Mbeumo, for example, and therefore, Palace cannot plan for all these eventualities in their defensive structure.
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This is massively different from under Amorim, when the system was the exact same regardless of personnel changes, making it really easy for opponents to plan.
Amorim had these struggles with the exact same team as Carrick now has, which shows that he simply wasn’t able to utilise it.
The strength in options simply didn’t exist for Amorim because of the system, and for Carrick, this is without even considering Shea Lacey, Mason Mount, or Patrick Dorgu.
Should Benjamin Sesko start for Man Utd vs Crystal Palace?
Benjamin Sesko celebrates scoring during the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool, England in 2026.
Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
Crystal Palace also only has two days to form Manchester United plan
Glasner’s uncertainty over how United will set up will not be helped by the fact that he only has two days before the game to prepare.
This is due to Palace’s Conference League play-off second leg against Zrinjski, which they haven’t put away yet, having drawn the first leg 1-1.
Palace will be tired, unprepared, and Carrick simply has to take advantage by going for a statement win against the Eagles.
Carrick should therefore start Sesko, put the defence under pressure and demonstrate a different form of attack to previous games.
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