At half-time of Manchester United's game against Burnley, with United 1-0 down, Tim Sherwood laid into United's young striker Benjamin Šeško. Sherwood, the former Tottenham and Aston Villa manager, tore into Šeško's performance.
"At this stage Šeško would not have a Man United shirt on for me," Sherwood said during the half-time analysis, "“[United] are playing with one down at the moment.”
Šeško stepped out in the second half after an admittedly poor first 45 minutes, and looked a completely different footballer. He got on the end of a Bruno Fernandes' through ball and adeptly found the far corner to get United level, and then minutes later, got on the end of a Patrick Dorgu cross and slotted the ball away to give United the lead.
Despite his performance in the second half, Sherwood was too stubborn to reverse his comments. Sherwood stood by his statements, and said he still deserved not to play United ever again. But it was obvious that Šeško had proved him wrong. Fortunately, most other people were not so stubborn.
Šeško has had his fair share of doubters since signing for United from RB Leipzig last summer. He was without a goal in his last 9 games prior to the match at Turf Moor, and was often criticized by fans.
The two goals Benjamin Šeško scored on Wednesday night are exactly the kind of play that United fans want to see from their main striker. The goals relied on striker's instinct, and on quality finishing. Šeško also had 8 shots against Burnley, 7 of which were on target, an incredibly good sign for a player who had struggled to get involved in past games.
United have struggled to have a reliable striker for years, with Rasmus Hojlund being the last player to fail at the task and be sold. Šeško will need to more consistently perform at this level to deal with the immense pressure that comes with being United's starting striker, but Šeško has gained a lot of supporters with Wednesday's performance.
The future is looking up for Benjamin Šeško. So much of the play of a striker revolves around their confidence level. We last saw that with Hojlund, who went months before his first goal, but eventually found a groove and went on to score in six consecutive games and receive the Premier League Player of the Month award.
If Šeško can build on his performance, and find some confidence in his stuffing of the stat sheet, then he could grow into Manchester United's starting striker for years to come. Šeško is incredibly talented, but raw. His skillset and power are undeniable, but those intangible qualities that make a good striker great have yet to develop. Fortunately, they can be taught.
Šeško might be one of the players to benefit the most from a change in manager. With Bruno Fernandes back from injury, and most likely playing further forward in the team, he can supply Šeško with more chances than in Amorim's system.
Suddenly the narrative on Šeško has changed. Two well-taken goals have proved that Šeško does have the skill-set to succeed at Man United. But you need more than the physical skills to succeed in the Premier League. Let's hope that Šeško can keep it up.