Carrick Denies Claims of Easy Start for United

Michael Carrick is already tired of the narrative. Favourable start? Easy run? Not having it.

The Manchester United head coach dismissed suggestions his side have been handed a gentle opening to the Premier League season, branding the idea “ridiculous” as they prepare for their curtain-raiser at Hull on Saturday.

United begin away to the Championship play-off winners before hosting Ipswich, another newly promoted side, in their first Old Trafford fixture on 30 August. On paper, it looks kind. In the build-up, it has fuelled talk that United should explode out of the blocks, extend the momentum of last season’s third-place finish and instantly justify the decision to hand Carrick the job permanently.

Carrick cut straight through that storyline.

“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.

“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.”

The message is clear. United may arrive as favourites, but Carrick wants no hint of complacency as his side step into a season that will judge whether last year’s surge was a springboard or a ceiling.