Benjamin Sesko came on after the hour mark in the Manchester derby, with Gary Lineker not too pleased at Michael Carrick's decision
Michael Carrick has been criticised for his latest Benjamin Sesko decision
Michael Carrick has been criticised for his latest Benjamin Sesko decision(Image: (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images))
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Gary Lineker has taken aim at Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick over his decision to give Benjamin Sesko just 23 minutes in the Manchester derby. The Slovenian striker was introduced in the second half after Erling Haaland controversially gave 10-man Manchester City the lead.
Sesko managed just eight touches during his cameo with Carrick's side struggling to break down the low block deployed by City. He had a shot from distance, but it was Bryan Mbeumo that had the best chance to equalise, though he was denied in the final knockings by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
With United failing to create too many chances, the squad and Carrick have come under fire for certain decisions. The latter has been criticised significantly for his substitutions, with Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer left baffled at why it took so long for Sesko to come on.
He said on The Rest Is Football podcast: "Up top... they look like they’re lacking. They’ve got Sesko on the bench. It’s odd, he comes on and he has scored in games but you wonder why he’s not getting a starting place.
"Obviously they’ve got Cunha, he’s more of a ten than a nine, [Bryan] Mbeumo plays mostly off the right, obviously [Marcus] Rashford is on the left."
"You kept looking at it and thinking, 'If you get someone up top... are you going to bring the big man on?', and he did come on a bit late."
Shearer added: "He could have given him more time, Sesko. I was saying, 'He has to bring him on!', and I thought he could have brought him on at least ten minutes earlier than he actually did."
"There’s talk of how they’ve strengthened their forwards and they’ve strengthened the midfield but they didn’t strengthen defensively. I’m not 100 per cent certain that they’re that great up top anyway. I think they’re all right, they’re decent. But when you compare them to a lot of the big teams..."
Benjamin Sesko
Sesko is yet to start a Premier League game this season
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Gary Neville, who was commentating on the match for Sky Sports, was also taken aback, having been convinced that Sesko would come on early in the second half.
Sesko has been carefully managed so far this season, having only recently fully recovered from an injury that he suffered towards the end of the last campaign.
He started and played 64 minutes of the Champions League clash against Sabah last week, while he has only made brief cameos in the Premier League.
Despite scoring in both matches before the clash with City, it was no surprise that Carrick opted to deploy Matheus Cunha up front, particularly given how the game was expected to play out. But Phil Foden's red card put the pressure on United to make the breakthrough, though the Reds were unable to capitalise on their numerical advantage and slipped to a defeat.
The defeat to their local rivals means United have four points from a possible 12, with a trip to Fulham their final clash before the extended international break.