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<\/p>\nBenjamin Sesko came off the bench to score another winner as Manchester United beat Everton to strengthen their claims for Champions League football next season.<\/p>\n
The Slovenian forward finished a brilliant counter-attack to earn United victory in a game of few chances, with that strike \u2014 and the move that led to it \u2014 the one real moment of quality in an otherwise underwhelming game.<\/p>\n
It is a fifth win in six matches for interim head coach Michael Carrick, whose decision to introduce Sesko helped change the course of this game.<\/p>\n
Carl Anka analyses the main talking points from Hill Dickinson Stadium.<\/p>\n
Is Sesko forcing his manager\u2019s hand?<\/p>\n
There had been clamour to include Sesko from the start after his stoppage-time winner against Fulham was followed up by a late equaliser at West Ham United in their last league outing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s taking big steps, even in the short time we\u2019ve been together,\u201d Carrick said before the game. \u201cAnd he\u2019s in a good place. There\u2019s a little bit of being, I wouldn\u2019t say, careful. I think this is managing it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite those \u201cbig steps\u201d, Carrick kept the 22-year-old on the bench for this trip to Everton, only introducing him in the 58th minute.<\/p>\n
With Amad Diallo taken off, Sesko was employed as more of a target man up front.<\/p>\n
He was afforded more time to impact the game this time (32 minutes rather than 21 at West Ham) and his presence was quickly felt.<\/p>\n
He helped kickstart a promising counter-attack in the 67th minute along with Matheus Cunha, but the Brazil international squandered a two-on-one as the pair burst into the final third. Sesko was open, to the left of Cunha and hoping for a quick through ball, but his team-mate dallied at a crucial moment before losing possession.<\/p>\n
It did not take long for Cunha to correct his mistake. Four minutes later, he picked the ball up deep in his own half and released Bryan Mbeumo on the right with a delicious long pass that left Everton scrambling.<\/p>\n
Mbeumo \u2014 who had moved over to the right wing following Sesko\u2019s introduction \u2014 found the striker with a relatively simple pass.<\/p>\n
Sesko\u2019s goal was the sort of authoritative one-touch finish fans crave from their strikers. His continued form is becoming hard to ignore for Carrick. Should the Slovenian start against Crystal Palace on Sunday?<\/p>\n
Is Lammens\u2019 temperament as crucial as his ability?<\/p>\n
\n Senne Lammens was put under immense pressure from corners but dealt with it well (Michael Regan\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
It is Sesko who will capture the headlines, but the contribution of Senne Lammens should not be overlooked. The Belgian finished regulation time having made three saves, and four high claims of the ball.<\/p>\n
The goalkeeper started the game in less-than-impressive fashion, with his first kick seconds into the match closed down by a charging Thierno Barry. Fortunately, the ball cannoned away to safety.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old has calmness under pressure that allows him to shrug off smaller errors in a way that would disrupt the likes of Andre Onana and Altay Bay\u0131ndir.<\/p>\n
In the 83rd minute, he made his best save of the game, stretching to paw away a long-range effort from Michael Keane. As Everton looked to pack bodies and crosses into the box, it was Lammens standing strong, punching corners away and halting the home side\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cVital moments in the game, he\u2019s made saves,\u201d was Eric Steele\u2019s assessment to Talk of the Devils last week. \u201cBecause you have to have that total focus, total concentration. You never switch off.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former United goalkeeping coach knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a No 1 in highly pressured circumstances. Lammens capped his performance off with a sensible save to stop Tyrique George in the 92nd minute. United look stronger with him in the team.<\/p>\n
Are injuries contributing to a lack of creativity?<\/p>\n
In the 29th minute, Bruno Fernandes progressed the ball down the right half-space and put his hand out in a brief gesture as if to say: \u201cWhere are my options?\u201d<\/p>\n
His team-mates failed to respond in the required time, so the captain turned away from Jordan Pickford\u2019s goal to better shield the ball from any incoming challenge. A chance to break down Everton\u2019s defence fizzled out before it got going. It was a small moment that summed up some of United\u2019s struggles in this game.<\/p>\n
The tactical problems evident in the draw at West Ham were still on show at times here. Carrick\u2019s men were too narrow, too static and too ordinary on the ball for long periods.<\/p>\n
Injuries have made it difficult for the interim head coach to soothe this issue. He was without Lisandro Martinez due to a calf injury revealed hours before kick-off, and his side sorely missed his press resistance and ball progression in deeper areas.<\/p>\n
Patrick Dorgu is unlikely to return from his hamstring injury until mid-April and United\u2019s left wing has become more pedestrian without his input. For all of Cunha\u2019s many talents, his inclination to cut inside and hunt for the ball within the left half-space risks congesting areas inside and around the opponent\u2019s penalty box.<\/p>\n
In successful matches under Carrick, his players cluster into small spaces before pinging quick passes together and zipping through the thirds. For the first hour against Everton, United lacked the pace and precision needed to work around a stodgy defence.<\/p>\n
There was even a moment when we saw a glimpse of the old Fernandes, after he steered an effort high over Pickford\u2019s crossbar. When the ball went out of play, he spun around and protested with referee Darren England, as if to ask for a corner. It was a return to a previous version of the Portuguese, a less patient, more impulsive edition that would grow frustrated when he had too much to do in games where team-mates couldn\u2019t reach his creative levels.<\/p>\n
It was a sign of United\u2019s struggles until the second-half changes shifted the momentum in their favour and Sesko, helped by Cunha\u2019s exquisite pass, made his telling contribution.<\/p>\n
What did Carrick say?<\/p>\n
Speaking to Sky Sports, Carrick said: \u201cWe had the first four games, four wins in a row and some really good performances in there, so I expected a period where we\u2019d have to find ourselves a little bit and find results. I thought we did it at West Ham and we did it today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat spirit, that sacrifice and that willingness to work for each other and as a team, the way we had to defend the box for the last period of the game \u2014 everybody playing their part \u2014 and in the end a clean sheet was fantastic. A great win for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t come easy for us tonight. I\u2019ve come to Everton for a long time and every time we come over here it\u2019s tough. I\u2019ve never had an easy game. I\u2019ve never had a game where it\u2019s all clicked. We expected a tough one. The lads have trained really well and we came in looking and feeling good about the game. We had to dig deep and it was a bit of a struggle at times. But sometimes they are the best ones to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
What next?<\/p>\n
Sunday, March 1: Crystal Palace (home), Premier League, 2pm UK, 9am ET<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benjamin Sesko came off the bench to score another winner as Manchester United beat Everton to strengthen their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[3788,1084,403,99],"class_list":["post-487544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-manchester-united","tag-premier-league","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}