Manager Alan Shearer has criticized Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesco’s lackluster performance against Tottenham, claiming he had “no clue”. The former Newcastle and England striker singled out Sesco as a target of criticism on the BBC after the 2-2 draw in London, in which Ruben Amorim’s side lost a 1-0 lead before scoring late on.
Brian Mbeumo gave United the lead on Saturday, but it wasn’t until the 84th minute that Spurs equalized through Matthijs Tell. Richarlison looked to have sealed victory for the hosts in extra time, but Matthijs de Ligt equalized in the last minute.
Despite some commendable performances from the United team, Shearer was unimpressed with the Slovenian centre-forward. Sesco was left out of north London side Amorim’s starting XI but was brought on in the 58th minute. However, he failed to make much of an impact.
The 22-year-old Slovenian, who joined Old Trafford for a whopping £74 million this summer, missed a golden chance in the 85th minute and was sent off with a knee injury.
Shearer felt United’s number nine should have taken advantage of one of the two great opportunities presented to him. “Sesco struggled again,” he said on Match of the Day. “He’s only scored two goals in 12 games, but he came on today with just over 30 minutes left.
“He had two really, really good chances and he should have scored. To be honest, it worked really well to create his first chance. He’s got to get his shots in early or push the ball forward sooner. You’re not going to have that much time in the Premier League to get your right foot back in shape.”
And Shearer highlighted the brilliant chance Sesco missed just before his injury, when Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven recovered to make a crucial tackle.
“This (85th minute chance) is a bigger puzzle for me,” Shearer continued. “I know he’s struggling with confidence, but any centre-forward knows you can’t let a centre-half fight back.
“You’ve got to understand Van de Ven. By then he’ll have a picture in his head of where the keeper is and what he wants to do. I don’t think he has any idea what he wants to do, because I don’t think he even knows that Van de Ven is there chasing him. I know he’s struggling with confidence, but that’s a big ‘gotta get better’ thing.”
“No one likes to see him come back injured and I hope his knee is OK, but at that level the two chances you expect someone has to take away.”
