Carrick and Sesko embarrassed by ‘frustrated’ Rooney after Cunha, Mbuemo slams | OneFootball

The days following Manchester United’s limp defeat to Manchester City have involved innumerable musings on VAR, its value and the quality of the people officiating in the Premier League, along with two crushing realities for Red Devils fans: their footballers are nowhere near as good as Manchester City’s; their manager is nowhere near as good as Manchester City’s.

Both of those hard truths were brought into stark focus by the reactions of Michael Carrick and Enzo Maresca to Phil Foden’s red card.

Maresca is a proper tactician. He’s at his best when coming up with a plan for a game or part of a game. His Chelsea side destroying European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final is testament to that, as was his on-the-hoof tweaks when his side went down to ten men on Sunday. Bringing Iliman Ndiaye on for Rayan Cherki effectively won the game for them.

If we’re to now assume that Carrick has lost all faith in Mason Mount, Benjamin Sesko and Joshua Zirkzee were his only attacking options to change the game in United’s favour. He waited too long to bring Sesko on; arguably Zirkzee too.

It may not have made a difference. Carrick’s United excel in transition but consistently fail when they’re asked to make the running and play key passes through a deep opposition defence. No great manager has ever bemoaned having too much of the ball, because great – even good – managers know what to do when they have it.

Wayne Rooney thinks Carrick has been let down by the owners.

He said on Stick to United: “When the window shut, I was surprised we didn’t sign more players, it’s frustrating.

“I heard someone yesterday say that we [United] fixed the attacking line and now we’ve done the midfield. I don’t think we fixed the attacking line last season. We got players in but didn’t fix it. Mbeumo did okay, Cunha did okay, didn’t set the world alight.”

And having turned his nose up at both Mbeumo and Cunha, Rooney completely disregarded United’s other forward signing from the summer of 2025.

“When the season finished last season and going into the World Cup, I was looking at it thinking they need a No.9,” Rooney added.

“Cunha needs someone to play off. Cunha doesn’t need to be the player who brings others into games. He has moments, like he did at Arsenal last season where he produces something brilliant and then he’ll frustrate you.

“I think Mbeumo a lot of the time comes inside on his left foot from out wide. I actually think his best games for Man United have been as a No.9, rather than from out wide.”

Is it that Carrick has turned to Benjamin Sesko so infrequently that Rooney has forgotten he exists? Or is Rooney so unconvinced by the Slovenia international’s performances that he feels they need to sign another new No.9, presumably at great expense if he’s to get into the XI of a manager who clearly actively abhors Proper Strikers.

Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer are baffled by Carrick’s reticence to start Sesko and the suggestion that ‘he’s better off the bench’ doesn’t stand up to any real scrutiny as eight of his 14 goals for United have come when starting.

Those 14 goals coming in 37 games suggests United grossly overpaid for the £74m man, but a goal every 139 minutes suggests Carrick should be aiming to get Sesko on the pitch as much as possible. He would have 24 goals by now at that hit rate had he played every minute of those 37 games.

At which point Rooney would surely be forced to recognise his existence and backtrack on the view that INEOS need to sign a new No.9 for Carrick when he’s already bloody got one.