Michael Carrick hasn’t done much wrong so far at Manchester United, but he might just need to reverse a popular squad decision at the club due to the bigger picture.
Despite the loss to Newcastle, the big picture is still extremely rosy for Michael Carrick, as Man Utd have picked up 19 points out of 24 since he arrived.
There have been hiccups along the road, very cheekily pointed out by Paul Scholes recently, but Carrick has largely navigated them with trademark calmness.
However, in the process, he did make one popular decision to reward a player that he might have to walk back on, through no fault of the player. He just fixed what wasn’t broken.
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Michael Carrick celebrates after the Premier League match between Everton and Manchester United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2026 in Liverpool, England.
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Michael Carrick needs to drop Benjamin Sesko
Benjamin Sesko has been one of Carrick’s biggest success stories at Old Trafford, be it from the bench or starting games.
His first start under Carrick came in his seventh game, and he marked with a winner against Crystal Palace, but the second start against Newcastle didn’t go so well.
Sesko is not at fault, since no player is anyway going to score in every game, but his presence in the starting XI, as it stands, is creating a tactical dilemma for Carrick.
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To bring Sesko into the starting XI, Carrick dropped Amad and moved Bryan Mbeumo to the right wing, which exacerbated the lack of width problem United were already dealing with.
Sesko scored against Palace with a traditional cross-and-header move, but United’s open-play threat still dimmed from the heady highs of Man City, Fulham or Spurs.
That’s because a team that struggled to stretch the pitch horizontally due to a lack of width also stopped stretching the pitch vertically.
Mbeumo is one of the league’s best players when he’s running off the shoulders of the last man, constantly stretching the backline and forcing them to run towards their own goal.
Sesko is also rapid, but he’s tackled by defenders mostly in front of them as he engages in physical duels.
The result is that the front four all occupy the same space. Bruno Fernandes starts in the pocket, Matheus Cunha and Mbeumo cut inside to end up there, and Sesko drops deep to form a cluster that’s easy to mark out of the game.
Bryan Mbeumo at striker is what this team needs right now
It’s a strange dilemma for Carrick because Mbeumo’s best position isn’t even as a No. 9, but for what this team needs right now, that’s the “least worst” solution.
Have you been convinced by Sesko like Carrick has?
He's in amazing form, but what else does he need to add?
Sesko Carrick
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After losing Patrick Dorgu’s natural width and Lisandro Martinez’s line-breaking passing, their ability to stretch the teams out wide ended.
Carrick then removed Mbeumo from the striker position and handicapped the team vertically as well, even if it was a popular decision to reward Sesko for his form off the bench.
Through no fault of Sesko, his best role right now is to feast on tired defences off the bench, run ragged by a fluid front four of Amad-Cunha-Fernandes-Mbeumo.
He’s a model professional and will understand, because he is the perfect natural striker when this team has all of its players available.
Carrick needs to reverse his popular decision to start Sesko and stop trying to fix what wasn’t broken.
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