MAYBE Ruben Amorim built Benjamin Sesko up to take him down a peg – by taking him out of the team.
Dropping Sesko to the bench at Tottenham was, for 45 minutes, a tactical triumph with the new front three of Bryan Mbeumo, Amad and Matheus Cunha.
Benjamin Sesko made United a worse team when he was on the pitchCredit: Reuters
Ruben Amorim is working out his best front threeCredit: Alamy
The trio combined beautifully for Mbeumo’s 32nd-minute header, with each of them positioned perfectly to capitalise on the chaos in Guglielmo Vicario’s penalty area.
United were weaker with Sesko on the pitch, and even weaker through his premature departure down the tunnel shortly before Richarlison’s potential added-time winner.
Sesko now has two goals in 12 games and United are arguably a slicker attacking side with the £74million striker on the bench.
Not only did Amorim opt for a strikerless formation, but .
That worked a treat as Mbeumo nodded in his sixth goal for United a day after he was crowned the Premier League’s Player of the Month for October.
was a threat from kick-off. He was wrongly flagged offside twice in the opening minutes and his positioning off the ball was exemplary.
He effectively played two roles, such was the inadequacy of Patrick Dorgu on the left wing.
Dorgu required plenty of one-on-one coaching from Amorim. He urged Dorgu to carry the ball down the line. Mbeumo even made a run into that channel and was ignored. Dorgu played the ball backwards and Amorim shook his head.
Switching Mbeumo from right to left also limited the risk. The prospect of Dorgu and Amad, relocated from the wing to one of the two playmaker roles, would have asked for trouble.
Instead, Amad occupied the right-sided playmaker role and his dinked cross was guided in expertly by Mbeumo.
about the prospect of following him from Brentford to Tottenham in the summer yet Mbeumo had his heart set on .
Frank hailed Mbeumo as “the complete winger” on the eve of this match and the 26-year-old backed up those plaudits.
Mbeumo scored 20 Premier League goals last season and his auspicious start for United suggests it is not unreasonable for him to at least get close to that tally.
Amorim’s man-management has occasionally been questioned, given his confrontations with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho, yet every decision he takes is for the team’s benefit, rather than his own.
That gut feeling has served him well and naming Sesko on the bench was not as much of a jolt as it seemed.
The Slovenia striker was surprisingly removed from the starting XI away at Liverpool last month and United scored inside two minutes.
Amorim opted for a strikerless side as far back as United’s first game of the campaign as Sesko arrived a week before the season started.
He had to wait until September for his first league start, so Tottenham away was the fifth time in 11 games that Amorim had submitted a teamsheet with Sesko among the substitutes.
United’s record is won two, drawn two and lost one.
This was two points dropped and would have been three but for .
As soon as Tottenham increased their intensity after half-time, forcing Senne Lammens into saves from Cristiano Romero and Joao Palhinha, Amorim turned to .
Five other team-mates were warming up, yet Amorim opted for Sesko to provide presence.
Diogo Dalot, one of the substitutes warming up, regularly urged United’s starters to slow the pace of the game down to counter Tottenham’s urgency.
, the only alternative to Sesko, never came into Amorim’s thinking and never came on again.
Zirkzee has not started a game since April and his only assignment at Spurs was to collect a lone water bottle that had not made it into touch during a stoppage.
Sesko, built like a target man, was brought on to add to that. Bruno Fernandes instructed the 23-year-old to stay higher up the pitch rather than drop off.
When Sesko had a chance in the 78th minute, his first touch was heavy and the chance was gone.
Mount played Sesko through for an even better chance at 1-1 and, again, there was no shot.
It was Sesko’s misfortune that he had the relentless Micky van de Ven breathing down his neck to prod the ball away.
Amorim outstretched his arms. No wonder he said .
Sesko was then struggling with an impact injury from Van de Ven’s challenge that enforced his removal and reduced United to ten men.
Fit or not, he is likely to still be on the bench when United’s season resumes against Everton in a fortnight.
Bryan Mbeumo combined with his fellow forwardsCredit: Alamy
The striker limped off after picking up a knockCredit: PA
Joshua Zirkzee was overlooked as an option once againCredit: Getty 
