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Picture this: a smiling the Danish striker in a Napoli shirt. Now, juxtapose that with a dejected Benjamin Sesko in a Manchester United kit, appearing like he's missed an open goal. Do not worry locating a real picture of that miss; context is the enemy. Then, include some goal stats in a big, silly font. Don't forget some emoticons. Post it everywhere.

Would you mention that Højlund's goal count includes scores in the premier European competition while Sesko isn't playing in continental tournaments? Of course not. And would you highlight that four of the Dane's goals were scored versus weaker national sides, or that Denmark is much stronger to Slovenia and generates far more scoring opportunities. If you run social media for a major brand, raw engagement is your livelihood, Manchester United are the biggest draw, and nuance is your sworn enemy.

So the wheel of online material turns. The next job is to sift through a lengthy interview featuring the legendary goalkeeper and find the part where he describes the acquisition of Sesko "strange". There's a bit, where he prefaces his remarks by saying, "Nothing negative to say about Benjamin Sesko"... well, cut that. Nobody needs that. Simply ensure "weird" and "the player" are paired in the title. People will be furious.

This Time of Promise and Premature Judgment

The heart of fall has traditionally one of my preferred periods to observe football. The leaves swirl, winds shift, squads and strategies are newly formed, all is novel and yet patterns are emerging. Key players of the season ahead are planting their flags. The summer market is shut. Nobody is mentioning the multiple trophies yet. All teams are still in the game. At this precise point, anything is possible.

However, for many of the same reasons, mid-autumn has long been one of my least favourite times to read about football. Because although nothing has yet been settled, something must always be getting settled. Jack Grealish is reborn. The German talent has been a major letdown. Could Semenyo be the best player in the league right now? We need a decision immediately.

Sesko as The Prime Example

In many ways, Benjamin Sesko feels like Patient Zero in this context, a player inextricably trapped between football's opposing, non-negotiable forces. The imperative to delay final conclusions, allowing technical development and tactical sophistication to develop. And the demand to generate permanent verdicts, a conveyor belt of takes and memes, out-of-context criticisms and pointless contrasts, a square that can never truly be circled.

I do not propose to provide a substantive analysis of Sesko's time at United so far. The guy has been in the lineup on four occasions in the Premier League in a wildly inconsistent team, found the net twice, and taken a mere of 116 touches. What exactly are we evaluating? And do I propose to duplicate Gary Neville's and Ian Wright's seminal masterwork "The Sesko Debate", in which two of England's leading pundits duel thrillingly on a podcast over whether he needs 10 goals to be deemed successful this year (Neville), or whether it's really more like twelve or thirteen (the other).

A Harsh Reality

Despite this I enjoyed watching him at Leipzig: a powerful, screeching racing car of a striker, playing in a team pitched perfectly to his abilities: given the license to rampage but also the leeway to miss. Partly this is why Manchester United feels like the cruellest place he could possibly be at the moment: a place where "harsh judgments" are summarily issued in roughly the duration it takes to load a short advertisement, the club with the widest and most pitiless gap between the patience and space he needs, and the opportunity he is going to get.

There was a case of this over the national team pause, when a widely shared chart handily stated that the player had been judged – by a wide margin – the poorest acquisition of the summer transfer window by a poll of football representatives. And of course, the media are not alone in this. Team social media, online personalities, anonymous X accounts with a suspiciously high number of fake followers: all parties with skin in the game is now basically aligned along the identical rules, an ecosystem explicitly nosed towards provocation.

The Psychological Toll

Endless scrolling and tapping. What is happening to ourselves? Do we realize, on any level, what this infinite stream of irritation is doing to our brains? Quite apart from the inherent strangeness of being a player in the middle of this, knowing on some surreal butterfly-effect level that every single thing about them is now essentially material, product, public property to be packaged and traded.

Indeed, partly this is because it's Manchester United, the corpse that keeps nourishing the cycle, a big club that must constantly be generating the strong emotions. But also, partly this is a seasonal affliction, a swing of opinion most visibly and harshly glimpsed at this time of year, about a month after the transfer market shut. Throughout the summer we have been desiring players, eulogising them, drooling over them. Yet, just a few weeks in, many of those very players are now being dismissed as failures. Is it time to worry about a new signing? Did Arsenal actually need Viktor Gyökeres wise? What was the point of Randal Kolo Muani?

The Bigger Picture

It feels appropriate that Sesko faces their rivals on Sunday: a team at once on a long unbeaten run at their stadium in the Premier League and somehow in their own situation of feverish crisis, like filing a a report on someone who went to the store half an hour ago. Too open. Mohamed Salah past his prime. Alexander Isak an expensive flop. Arne Slot bald.

Perhaps we have failed to understand the way the narrative of football has started to replace football the actual game, to influence the way we view it, an entire sport repivoted around talking points and immediate responses, an activity that occurs in the backdrop while we browse through our devices, incapable to disconnect from the constant flow of opinions and further hot takes. It may be Sesko taking the hit right now. But in a way, we're all sacrificing a part of the experience in this process.