Legendary strikers agree that Carrick is using Man Utd attacker wrong – ‘He has to…’ | OneFootball

Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have questioned how Michael Carrick has been utilising Benjamin Sesko, especially in the loss against rivals Manchester City.

United lost 1-0 to rivals City on Sunday, after Phil Foden was sent off for the visitors. The only goal was a dubious one which Pro Ref have apologised for, with Erling Haaland turning home after interference from Enzo Fernandez, who was in an offside position.

But it also must be said that United would have struggled to win the game anyway. They had only three shots on target, from Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez.

Attackers Matheus Cunha and Marcus Rashford failed to have any, though the latter did strike the post with a free-kick.

Legendary former strikers Lineker and Shearer feel that substitute Sesko, who came on with just 23 minutes to go, should have been introduced earlier.

Lineker said on The Rest Is Football: “Would you worry a bit about United? Apart from that Bryan Mbeumo chance… well, they hit the post a couple of times, Marcus Rashford with that free-kick, a long, great effort, and Kobbie Mainoo hit a really good effort as well.

“I thought Kobbie Mainoo did some nice stuff but up top, though, 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, Mbeumo plays mostly off the right, obviously 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 bit a bit late.”

Alan Shearer wanted Benjamin Sesko on earlier

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 [in attack], they’re decent. But when you compare them to a lot of the big teams…”