Rio Ferdinand has called out Manchester United’s Benjamin Sesko for registering just six touches in the first half against 10-man Chelsea.
United secured a 2-1 Premier League win over Chelsea on Saturday as Sesko once again failed to get on the scoresheet for the Red Devils.
Sesko cost United £74m in the summer transfer window and he is still waiting to register his first goal for the club following six appearances.
The Slovenia international striker was taken off at half-time against Chelsea and Ferdinand says Sesko must take ‘responsibility’ for his lack of chances, urging him to change the situation by speaking to teammates.
‘In the first half, against 10 men, he’s had six touches,’ Ferdinand said on his YouTube podcast. ‘Six touches!’
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‘I think the responsibility goes to the striker as well [as other players],’ Ferdinand added.
‘In today’s game there’s enough at your disposal technology-wise and clip-wise that you can get it in black and white on the iPad and say to your teammates, ‘You know when you got in that position, look where I am’.
‘Amad on the weekend, I thought he played well, was in a great position on the left-hand side and Sesko pulled off the defender in the 18-yard box and Amad just has to roll it to him.
‘It’s decision making in the final third that’s going to set him free or it isn’t, and he’s got to try and dictate to a lot of those players either through runs that make it so obvious or physically telling them after a game.
‘They’re the type of conversations he has to have because I know Ruud [van Nistelrooy] was having that.
‘I saw Ruud van Nistelrooy walk off the training field because Ronaldo did too many step overs and he wasn’t playing it when he wanted it.
‘You’ve got to find it from somewhere to make your teammates know, and that will be the making of him.’
Meanwhile, Peter Schmeichel has claimed United did not need to sign Sesko from RB Leipzig this summer.
‘In terms of [the] players brought in, Cunha for instance, I think in the games he’s played, I’ve seen things that can happen in the future, something we can build on,’ Schmeichel told Premier League Productions.
‘Bryan Mbeumo, the same thing, yes, it’s really good. That’s kind of progress in terms of how the team is going to be developed.
‘Yes, we didn’t score enough goals so they bought players in who can score goals but they spent the money on the third one – it’s nothing personal against Sesko – but we didn’t need the third striker.
‘We needed a centre midfield player who can control that bit of the pitch, and we needed a goalkeeper.
‘Those were the issues we were struggling with last season and it’s not been addressed.’
