Michael Carrick Rejects Soft Launch Claims for Manchester United

Michael Carrick has dismissed suggestions that Manchester United have been handed a soft launch 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 welcoming Ipswich to Old Trafford on 30 August – two newly promoted sides in quick succession and, on paper at least, a kind-looking start for last season’s third-place finishers.

That perception has fed the narrative that United should burst out of the blocks, extend the winning run that underpinned Carrick’s successful audition as interim boss and justify his appointment on a permanent basis.

Carrick is having none of it.

“A newly promoted team away from home is a tough game,” he said, drawing on his own experience of early-season ambushes. “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.”

Hull, buoyed by promotion and a home crowd desperate to make a statement, offer a sharp first test of United’s resolve. Ipswich, returning to the top flight and heading to Old Trafford with nothing to lose, will not arrive as willing sparring partners either.

Carrick’s message cuts through the optimism surrounding United’s progress: there are no freebies in this league, and if his side believe otherwise, the opening weeks will expose them quickly.