‘Time’s up’ – Rio Ferdinand says Michael Carrick must start Man Utd star after Bournemouth draw

Rio Ferdinand has called on Michael Carrick to give Benjamin Sesko more opportunities to start after Manchester United were held to a 2-2 by Bournemouth.

United went ahead twice through Bruno Fernandes’ penalty and James Hill’s own goal, but were pegged back on both occasions by Andoni Iraola’s side.

Ryan Christie scored first for the home side before Harry Maguire’s sending off and Junior Kroupi’s goal from the penalty spot forced United to settle for a point.

Fernandes once again proved the creative spark for the vistors, continuing his impressive run of form since Carrick’s arrival, but elsewhere, it was another quiet night for Bryan Mbeumo leading the line for United.

The Cameroonian forward is without a goal in his last six games, but Carrick has kept faith with the 26-year-old despite havint Sesko on the bench.

Sesko has started just two games since Carrick’s arrival, but has proved impactful off the bench, with four goals goals in his last six games as a substitute.

And while not able to find the winner when brought on against Bournemouth on Friday, Ferdinand thinks it’s time for the 22-year-old to get a run of games in the starting lineup.

‘I think with Sesko now, he has five goals in nine games, most of them coming off the bench, and you’re looking at him thinking, you’re scoring that amount of goals, when’s he actually going to get a start?’ Ferdinand said.

‘Because he’s come on again, but you can’t always save the day. It’s not always gonna happen where you come on and continue to just keep saving the day and keep getting your goals like that.

‘I think he’ll be sitting there now kind of thinking, ‘right, okay, come on, time’s up now give me the starts that I require now to put myself in a good place’.’

Regardless, Friday’s draw leaves United third in the Premier League, four points ahead of fourth-placed Aston Villa and six points behind second-placed Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

And Ferdinand believes his former side should be feeling extremely confident about securing Champions League football for next season.

‘We’re still sitting nice, I still think Aston Villa are going to drop away because I think the European football is going to hurt Villa in the long run,’ he added.

‘The more games they’ve got, the more injuries they probably pick up. I think a lot of people are going, ‘Can they get top four?’ Man United, I think they’re a certainty now for top four.

‘As I said, that’s the type of game that under the previous regime, Man Utd lose that game. They go one-nil up, then they’re pegged back, they go two-one up, then they’re pegged back and a red card. The momentum shift is massive and I don’t think they would be able to work with that.

‘Man United today, they got rocked in that moment but they weathered the storm and came out of a 2-2 draw on the end of it.

‘I think if you’re going to take anything out of the game, that’s a step forward and it’s a bit more positivity given that I really believe that we would have probably lost that game earlier in the season or last season.

‘So that’s a positive if you’re gonna take anything from it but we’re third so you’ve got to be happy with that.’

United are back in action after the international break to take on Leeds United at Old Trafford.

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.