Scholes Demands Sesko Recall as Carrick Faces Pressure Ahead of Derby
Carrick under fire as Scholes demands Sesko recall before derby showdown
Benjamin Sesko has barely kicked a ball for Manchester United this season. Not from the start, anyway. A shin injury wiped out his entire pre-season and left Michael Carrick to improvise up front.
His solution? Matheus Cunha through the middle against Hull City, Ipswich Town and Everton.
It hasn’t convinced anyone.
Blunt through the middle
Out wide, United look alive. Bryan Mbuemo has started sharply. Marcus Rashford is carrying a threat again. The problem sits right between them, in the area where title-chasing teams are usually ruthless.
Cunha, signed from Wolves last year, has always looked more at home drifting in from the left, linking play, dragging defenders into awkward spaces. Asked to be the reference point, the penalty-box presence, he has instead underlined the question that already hung over him: is he really a No.9?
The answer from one Old Trafford great is clear.
Scholes tears into United’s approach
On The Good, The Bad, and The Football, Paul Scholes did not bother softening the edges. He went straight for United’s performance at Everton and the manager’s choices.
“I felt it was really timid against Everton,” he said. “There was no aggression and Everton were there for the taking. There was so much space and they never went for the throat.”
The draw at the Hill Dickinson Stadium only deepened the irritation. Sesko had come off the bench to remind everyone what a real centre forward looks like, rising to meet a Luke Shaw cross and thumping in a superb header. It should have been the decisive moment.
Instead, Ainsley Maitland-Niles struck late, United switched off, and two points slipped away.
Scholes pinned the blame on the structure of the side and the decision to leave Sesko out.
“The centre forward position is a bit of an issue because he is not playing Sesko,” he said. “He is a focal point. It is very difficult to watch a Manchester United team without a centre forward. With Cunha, we don’t really know what he is, a No.10 or a wide player but he’s definitely not a No.9 and watching United without a No.9 is a struggle.”
That is not a gentle nudge. It is a demand. Pick your striker.
Derby looming, pressure rising
The timing could hardly be more unforgiving for Carrick. Three league games have brought just four points from a possible nine. It is not a crisis, but it is already a pattern: spells of promise, no killer edge.
Across the city, Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City have wasted no time. Three games, three wins, a perfect domestic record and the familiar sense that once they start rolling, they rarely slow down.
City arrive at Old Trafford this weekend with momentum and clarity. United do not.
That is why Sesko has become the central question of the week. Under Carrick last season, he delivered a goal every 85 minutes. Those are elite numbers, the kind that change games, the kind that tilt derbies. Leaving that level of finishing on the bench, with City in town, would be a bold call. Perhaps too bold.
European stage, personal audition
Before the derby, there is Europe. Sabah FK come to Old Trafford on Thursday for a Champions League tie that suddenly feels like more than a routine group game.
For Sesko, it looks like an audition. A chance to shake off what remains of the rust, to test the shin in real combat, to remind his manager – and the home crowd – what a true No.9 gives this team.
If he starts, every run, every duel, every touch inside the box will be judged with Sunday in mind. If he scores, the noise around Carrick’s selection will only grow louder.
United need a focal point. Scholes has said it. The numbers back it. The league table underlines it.
Now the question hangs over Old Trafford: with City looming and the margin for error already shrinking, can Carrick really afford to leave his most natural finisher watching from the bench?
