Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko\u2019s early weeks at Manchester United have prompted public advice from a former club striker. The 22-year-old arrived in a big-money summer transfer and required six weeks to open his account for United. He has since scored twice in his last three Premier League starts, but remains under scrutiny as he adapts to a new league and country.<\/p>\n
Dimitar Berbatov addressed \u0160e\u0161ko\u2019s development during an appearance on Rio Ferdinand Presents, recommending a more forceful approach in live play and in team interactions. \u201cBe confident in yourself. Be arrogant in a way that you demand the ball from your team-mates when you make the run,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Berbatov underlined the practical purpose of that confidence: to make teammates recognise and respect a striker\u2019s movement. \u201cWhen you make a good run, if the ball doesn\u2019t come for you, say it or express it in a way that your teammates will understand that, \u2018I am here. I\u2019m making the run for you. Respect my run. Not every time but try to see me and believe in what I can do with that run,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He was candid about the need for visible emotion at times. \u201cSometimes be angry. Scream, swear, whatever. [It\u2019s] not personal. Just in a way that \u2018I\u2019m here, man. That\u2019s why I\u2019m here. Just give me the ball. Pass to me. I will try to score for you\u2019.”<\/p>\n
Berbatov also advised vocal communication beyond the moment of a run. \u201cHalftime, before and after the game, speak. Sometimes I think the players need to be more aggressive and emotional, in a way like, \u2018Pass me the damn ball, man!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The former United forward drew on his own experience at Old Trafford, noting he was older and more established when he arrived in late summer of 2008. He became United\u2019s record signing at \u00a330.75 million, a mark not surpassed until Juan Mata\u2019s \u00a337.1 million move in January 2014. Berbatov scored 56 times for United in four seasons and won the Premier League Golden Boot in 2010\u201311.<\/p>\n
He concluded with a reminder of the striker\u2019s simple metric of success. \u201cIn the end, it comes down to the goals for the strikers. If they don\u2019t score enough goals, people will be on them,\u201d he said, urging \u0160e\u0161ko to put himself into the right positions and expect service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Berbatov told \u0160e\u0161ko to demand the ball, be aggressive and put himself into scoring positions. this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,1125,1163],"tags":[1081,1162,317],"class_list":["post-4128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-strikers","category-transfers","tag-adaptation","tag-analytics","tag-benjamin-sesko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}