Michael Carrick Rejects Claims of Easy Start for Manchester United

Michael Carrick has dismissed talk of Manchester United being handed a gentle introduction to the new Premier League season, branding the suggestion “ridiculous”.

United open their campaign on Saturday away at Hull, last season’s Championship play-off winners, before welcoming Ipswich to Old Trafford on 30 August. With back-to-back fixtures against newly promoted sides, some observers have argued Carrick’s team should cruise out of the blocks and instantly extend the momentum that carried them to third place last term and earned him the job on a permanent basis.

Carrick wanted no part of that narrative.

“A newly promoted team away from home is a tough game,” he said, underlining the edge he expects at the MKM Stadium. “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 rejected the idea that the schedule has been kind to United.

“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 arrive with expectations heavy on their shoulders after last season’s surge, but Carrick clearly sees danger, not comfort, in underestimating ambitious newcomers. The real verdict on this so-called “favourable” start will come on the pitch, beginning in Hull.