Carrick Responds to Claims of Soft Manchester United Start

Michael Carrick is having none of it.

Suggestions that Manchester United have been handed a gentle introduction to the new Premier League season drew a sharp response from the head coach, who branded the idea “ridiculous” as his side prepare for their opener.

United travel to Championship play-off winners Hull on Saturday, then host Ipswich at Old Trafford on 30 August – two newly promoted sides, and, on paper, a launchpad for a fast start after last season’s third-place finish and Carrick’s subsequent permanent appointment.

Outside the club, that sequence has been framed as a gift. Inside it, Carrick sees something very different.

“A newly promoted team away from home is a tough game,” he said, drawing on his own years in the league. “I've been involved in them in the past so I'm fully aware of what's coming at us on Saturday and what we've got to be ready for.”

Hull, buoyed by promotion and a first home game back in the top flight, will not roll out a red carpet. Nor will Ipswich, eager to make a statement on their Old Trafford return. Carrick knows the script: promoted teams, early in the season, play with edge, emotion and nothing to lose.

That is why the talk of an easy start grates.

“It's not favourable. It's an easy thing to throw out there but it's pretty ridiculous,” he said. “I'm not taking it that way at all.”

United’s manager wants no excuses, no complacency and no illusions. If his team are to build on last year’s surge into third, they will have to earn it from the first whistle at Hull, not rely on the fixture list to do them any favours.