Alexander Isak and Benjamin Sesko at Liverpool and Manchester United are experiencing comparable struggles since changing clubs during the summer transfer window
Benjamin Sesko is one of several strikers who have struggled since changing clubs during the summer transfer window.
Sesko scored his first goal for United last time out away against Brentford in his seventh appearance after arriving. The Slovenian international’s integration was initially slow, entering half of their Premier League matches midway through as a substitute.
However, he is now starting regularly and completed a full 90 minutes in the league for the first time last weekend. The more Sesko plays, though, the clearer it becomes that United are not playing to the strengths of their £73.7million signing so far.
Paul Merson acknowledged as much on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast. “He’s gone out and bought the lad Sesko; he’s never going to score a goal because there’s no one going to cross the ball in,” the player-turned-pundit said.
“He has two players behind now in [Matheus] Cunha and [Bryan] Mbeumo, they’re off the cuff. They’re going to get the ball, and they might beat three players and score, or they’ll beat three players and put it wide.
“You’re never gonna get someone out wide and put the ball in the box. I feel sorry for the centre forward.”
Paul Scholes also agreed. “It’s a great point about the centre-forward,” he said. “You think, he’s six-foot-five, that centre-forward.
“I was with Giggsy [Ryan Giggs] Friday night, and he said, historically, you think about wide players, people who get you off your seat, crossing the ball. They’ve signed a six-foot-five centre-forward.
“We had fullbacks who could cross the ball; Gary Neville could cross a ball, and Denis Irwin could. How do United score goals?
“You look at a team sometimes, you think, [Erling] Haaland [at Manchester] City, he runs through, brilliant finisher. I can’t tell you how Man United score a goal, everything’s off the cuff.”
Liverpool are also encountering a comparable problem with Alexander Isak. The striker had just four touches in half an hour as a substitute during their 1-0 loss to Galatasaray in the Champions League.
As one Liverpool fan explained on social media in response to a post sharing that statistic: “We don’t play the same way Newcastle did. Don’t get as much space as Newcastle.
“They have wingers who put decent balls into the box. Our wingers cut back, allowing the defenders to get set behind the ball. Too slow. We also don’t attack the byline and pull it back.”
Another of their supporters said, “He came from a team that pumped the ball upfield quickly. They played him in over the top, and they pumped it up to wingers down the channels, who whipped it in for him. We just hold the ball for ages and have a slow, ponderous build-up. That’s not Isak’s game.”
Those assessments could easily apply to United and Sesko. The same issues are afflicting both clubs since the start of this season.
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