Carrick Refutes Claims of Easy Start for Manchester United

Michael Carrick has brushed off suggestions that Manchester United have been handed a gentle introduction to the new Premier League season, branding the idea “ridiculous”.

United open their campaign on Saturday away at Hull, last season’s Championship play-off winners, before returning to Old Trafford to face another newly promoted side, Ipswich, on 30 August.

On paper, some see a soft launch. Carrick sees something very different.

“A newly promoted team away from home is a tough game,” the United head coach insisted. “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.”

United’s strong finish last term, surging into third place and earning Carrick the job on a permanent basis, has fuelled expectations that they should start fast and keep rolling. The fixture list has only turned that volume up.

Carrick is having none of it.

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

For him, Hull away is no gift. It is the first examination of whether last season’s momentum can withstand the noise, the energy and the sheer edge that newly promoted sides bring on opening day.