Carrick Calls Suggestions of Easy Start for United 'Ridiculous'

Michael Carrick has hit back at suggestions Manchester United have been handed a gentle opening to the new Premier League season, branding the idea “ridiculous”.

United begin away at Hull on Saturday, facing the Championship play-off winners, before welcoming Ipswich to Old Trafford on 30 August – their first home game against another newly promoted side.

That sequence has prompted claims United should burst out of the blocks, extend the momentum of last season’s third-place finish and instantly justify the club’s decision to hand Carrick the job on a permanent basis.

Carrick wants none of it.

“A newly promoted team away from home is a tough game,” he said, underlining the reality check. “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.

“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.”

United travel to Hull with expectation swirling around them, but Carrick is clearly determined to shut down any sense of entitlement before a ball has been kicked. The message is blunt: there will be no shortcuts to a fast start.