Man United have an attacking crisis, Benjamin Sesko’s in-depth stats should have alarm bells ringing
Benjamin Sesko had a nightmare game on Wednesday as Manchester United crashed out of the Carabao Cup thanks to a 3-2 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion.
The 23-year-old striker was given the nod to start against the Seagulls at Old Trafford after he was benched in the loss to Manchester City.
However, the attacker did not impress and was largely anonymous throughout the game.
This is seen in Sesko’s stats, with the attack producing nothing of note until he was taken off in the 66th-minute.
As a result, it is now clear that Michael Carrick is in the middle of an attacking crisis at Old Trafford.
The manager continues to struggle to find a main man to lead his frontline, with neither Sesko nor Matheus Cunha having a good start to the new season.
How bad was Benjamin Sesko vs Brighton?
When examining Sesko’s stats against Brighton, they are extremely poor.
According to Fotmob, he completed just 57 per cent of his passes, had zero shots, created zero chances, completed zero out of his two attempted dribbles and won one out of his three ground duels. Perhaps most damning of all, he had zero touches in Brighton’s box.
As a result, the striker contributed to absolutely nothing positive in attack and was rightly taken off.
Therefore, Carrick now faces a crisis in his attack.
With both of his main strikers off form, he now needs to try and stick with one and hope that they can play themselves into form over the coming weeks.
Did Man United deserve to lose to Brighton?
When examining the stats, Man United got what they deserved on Tuesday night.
Overall, they had 50 per cent possession, 12 shots, four of which were on target, 17 touches in the opposition’s box, one big chance and a 1.04 xG.
In comparison, Brighton had 50 per cent possession, 18 shots, five of which were on target, 39 touches in the opposition’s box, five big chances and a 2.15 xG.
Therefore, plenty of work needs to be done if the Red Devils are going to bounce back from this defeat, with a victory now a must in their upcoming game against Fulham this weekend.