Carrick Calls United's Start to Premier League Season 'Ridiculous'

Michael Carrick has brushed aside 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, the Championship play-off winners, before returning to Old Trafford on 30 August to face Ipswich, another newly promoted side.

On paper, some see an opportunity for United to surge out of the blocks, extend the momentum of last season’s third-place finish and validate the club’s decision to hand Carrick the job on a permanent basis. Carrick is having none of it.

“A newly promoted team away from home is a tough game,” he said, pointing to his own experience of those fixtures. He knows the script: a packed stadium, a fired‑up crowd, a side desperate to prove they belong.

“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 once again. Carrick, though, is clearly determined that his players treat the opening weeks not as a free hit, but as an early test of their edge and resilience.