Carrick Rejects Soft Start Claims as Manchester United Faces Hull

Michael Carrick has branded claims that Manchester United have been handed a soft start to the Premier League season as “ridiculous”, insisting his side are walking into a trap rather than a comfort zone.

United open their campaign on Saturday away at Hull, last season’s Championship play-off winners, before hosting Ipswich at Old Trafford on 30 August – two newly promoted opponents that many outside the club see as an ideal launchpad for another top-four push.

Carrick is having none of it.

“A newly promoted team away from home is a tough game,” the United head coach said, drawing on his years of experience in similar fixtures. He knows what tends to greet established Premier League sides at grounds still buzzing from promotion: intensity, aggression, and a crowd desperate to make a statement.

“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,” he added.

United head into the new season on the back of a third-place finish, a run of form that helped convince the club to hand Carrick the job on a permanent basis. That strong campaign has fuelled the expectation that they should “hit the ground running” against Hull and Ipswich and quickly plant themselves near the top of the table.

Carrick pushed back hard on that narrative.

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

The message is clear: forget the fixture list chatter. In Carrick’s mind, there are no free hits in August – only two promoted sides waiting to see if Manchester United believe the hype.