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‘He’s pretty clear’ – How Benjamin Sesko has impressed Michael Carrick at Manchester United

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Benjamin Sesko has seven goals in his last eight games for Man Utd and Michael Carrick has been impressed with his attitude on and off the pitch.

Michael Carrick is excited about seeing Benjamin Sesko’s “huge potential” flourish at Manchester United after the £73.7million striker kept up his remarkable run in front of goal.

Sesko was handed a first start under Carrick but found the back of the net again in the win against Crystal Palace, taking his tally to four goals in 168 minutes since Carrick’s appointment as head coach in January.

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The 22-year-old striker began his rich vein of form during Darren Fletcher’s interim spell in charge, scoring three times in two games under the Scot, and although he has found it harder to break into the team under Carrick, his record in front of goal has been exceptional in 2026.

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His goal against Palace proved to be the winner and his four goals for Carrick have earned United seven points already. Carrick has praised the work Sesko is putting in in training and said the Slovenian had a clear idea of how he wanted to improve at Old Trafford.

“[We’ve been] working closely with him and connecting with him, building that relationship and that trust,” said Carrick. “I think that’s important when you’re trying to help players individually and certainly as a team.

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“Lots on Ben, he’s put the work in and he’s stayed positive, he knows how he wants to improve, he is pretty clear on that but he’s a good player. That’s why he’s here, he has some great strengths.

“It’s clear to see he’s scoring different types of goals, but he’s such a threat. I’m really excited about where he can get to without getting too carried away. I think he’s got huge potential, he’s so young, still early days for him, but he is doing fantastic at the moment.”

Sesko came in to the side for Amad against Crystal Palace, with Amad then impressing off the bench, and Carrick suggested his fluid front three could yet change when United head to St James’ Park to play Newcastle on Wednesday.

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“Delighted for Ben. I’ve sat here and said to you for the last few weeks, it’s not really been a headache, it’s not been a big deal, it has not been a big drama. I think he’s had a huge impact,” he said.

“Ben is making big improvements and a little bit is getting used to what it’s like to be here and the feelings and what it means to play and things that we can take for granted at times. He’s desperate to do well.

“He works so hard, he thinks about it an awful lot. He’s an absolute pleasure to work with. It was a fantastic goal, fantastic goal. So he’s bringing an awful lot.

“We’ve got good flexibility across the top line and the front players can play different roles within the game, so there’s a lot of flexibility there and Amad took some time off today and it might change again for Wednesday but it’s nice to have those options really.”

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What Michael Carrick said to Manchester United players at half-time vs Crystal Palace

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Man Utd came from behind to beat Crystal Palace at Old Trafford and Michael Carrick jogged down the touchline at half-time to get his message across.

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Michael Carrick told the Manchester United players he had been waiting to see them facing some adversity after they launched a stirring comeback to beat Crystal Palace at Old Trafford. The United head coach ran down the touchline at half-time, with Palace winning 1-0 thanks to Maxence Lacroix’s early goal, to deliver a few tactical adjustments to his players at the break.

But he also challenged them to show what they were made of. It was the first time United had been behind at half-time under Carrick and he admitted he had been waiting to see how his players would respond.

He was delighted with what he saw, with Bruno Fernandes at the heart of a comeback which saw the captain score from the spot and then set up the in-form Benjamin Sesko for the winner.

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Asked if there was a particular change he wanted to make that saw him run for the dressing room at half-time, Carrick said: “There’s always something. It was just a couple of little tweaks in shape, maybe a couple of ideas, some things we tried from the start that we wanted to kind of tweak a little bit, but honestly, it wasn’t major really and I’m not taking much credit for that.

“It was more that you’ve got to find a way in games sometimes and there’s a few ideas that we wanted to make more runs, we wanted it to be a little bit more aggressive in attacking their back line to a point, which is something you always try to do, but I thought we did it in the second half and ended up getting the penalty from that.

“So it was more how do we react. It’s been going in our favour. I said to them, here’s something I’ve been waiting for, this moment, to see, go on then, what we’re going to do about it and be positive. And the boys responded ever so well, so it was a big thing for us.”

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The spirit in the squad was clear with their second-half display, which was aided by Lacroix’s red card for bringing down Matheus Cunha inside the penalty area.

Carrick felt that was the most pleasing aspect of what was a sixth win in seven games in charge for him, with United now recovering seven points from losing positions under the 44-year-old.

“It’s the biggest thing for us to take from the game, really,” he said. “It’s the first time that we’ve been in that situation, going in at half-time. I thought we were a little bit off to start with. I think they started particularly well, so credit to them. Probably after 20 minutes or so, I thought the game started turning in our favour and we finished the half stronger and it looked a little like what we were trying to do.

“At half-time, it was about being in that position and how we react and showing that personality and the belief. Football is tough at times and this league is tough, so you’re never always going to have it your own way, but to then come back like we did second half and turn the game in our favour is the biggest thing for me to take from today for sure.”

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That is a match-winning over

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Former South African captain Faf du Plessis opined that Arshdeep Singh’s six-run over in the T20 World Cup 2026 match against the West Indies had a huge impact on the end result. Describing it as a match-winning over, Du Plessis added that small contributions like that often make a huge impact in the overall picture.

India beat the West Indies by five wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday, March 1 in a must-win clash of the T20 World Cup 2026. Bowling first, India held the Windies to 195-4 and then chased down the target in 19.2 overs. With the win, the Men in Blue also qualified for the semifinals.

While Sanju Samson (97* off 50) was the star of the show for India, Du Plessis picked the 19th over bowled by Arshdeep as the game-changing moment. Having gone for 24 runs in his previous over, the left-handed pacer made a brilliant comeback and conceded only six runs in the penultimate over, which went a long way in ensuring that the West Indies did not cross the 200-run mark.

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Du Plessis made a special mention of Arshdeep’s effort under pressure and commented:

“That one over in the context of the game is credit to him. The way that he executed – to go for six on a small ground, that is a match-winning over. If you are sitting in the dressing room and do the accolades, the coach or captain goes – our player of the day is you because of that over. People don’t realize how important a small contribution is in the big picture.”

Former India captain Anil Kumble also agreed that the Arshdeep’s six-run over was extremely crucial in the context of the match. He commented:

“Having gone for 24 runs, and then sticking to his plan of wide yorkers… Maybe West Indies could have been smarter. Instead of looking to pump him down the ground for a six., they could have used the pace and the ground as well, which they didn’t. So, it worked in his favor.”

Arshdeep ended the T20 World Cup clash with figures of 0-43 from four overs. Jasprit Bumrah stood out with 2-36, while Hardik Pandya and Varun Chakaravarthy registered identical figures of 1-40 from four overs.

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“You cannot afford that against England” – Anil Kumble on India’s worry ahead of T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal

While India progressed to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup 2026 with a win against the Windies, their fielding was poor once again. The Men in Blue dropped three catches on Sunday. Kumble opined that India cannot afford another bad day in the field against England in the knockout clash. He stated:

“The fielding, we saw the nerves were there. Dropped catches, misfields – you don’t expect that. Come semifinal, you cannot afford that against England. India would be happy, but there were nerves certainly because this was a must-win game.”

Team India will face England in the second semifinal of the T20 World Cup 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 5.