Legendary United striker expresses strong opinion on Carrick’s Benjamin Sesko decision | OneFootball

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Former Manchester United star Michael Owen has launched a passionate defence of Michael Carrick’s utilisation of Benjamin Sesko.

Omitted

Sesko was bizarrely excluded from the starting XI against City despite scoring in the previous two games.

Carrick opted for Matheus Cunha in the false nine, a decision that backfired spectacularly. The Brazilian struggled for impact as Enzo Maresca’s men secured a controversial 1-0 victory at Old Trafford.

There has been a clamour for Sesko to be given opportunities ahead of Cunha but Carrick has so far demonstrated a reluctance to sanction such a change.

But Owen believes Carrick is justified in entrusting Sesko with a peripheral role for now. Speaking to Metro, the former Liverpool and United forward insisted that Sesko isn’t currently one of the best strikers in the world and needs to do a lot to prove his worth.

Owen’s view

Owen said, “There’s so many different [attacking] options, which is a nice thing for Manchester United. I think Sesko still needs to develop more as a player to be the real deal.”

“Surely Manchester United have aspirations of being the best team in the country again and winning the Premier League. For them to do that, I would suggest that they need a centre-forward that is one of the best in the world. Is Sesko one of the ten best centre-forwards in the world? No, I don’t think he is.”

Owen continued, “How do you get him there? Well, maybe you play him a bit more and give him more experience. Maybe that is the way forward.”

“But as things stand now, if I was picking the team yesterday, I would have done exactly the same as Michael Carrick. I don’t think he’ll be having sleepless nights.”

“I think Sesko is a great impact player. I’ve got no problems if one of them got injured and he started. He’s scored goals from starting and from coming off the bench.”

“He’s a good player to have in your squad, but I don’t think there should be a massive clamour all of a sudden just because they didn’t score a goal in the game. They scored five goals against Ipswich not so long ago.”

Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash against Brighton & Hove Albion is likely one for Sesko to enter the fray and potentially make it impossible for Carrick to continue overlooking him.