Carrick Calls Talk of Easy United Start 'Ridiculous'

Michael Carrick is having none of it.

The Manchester United head coach has branded it “ridiculous” to suggest his side have been handed a soft landing at the start of the new Premier League season.

United open away at Hull on Saturday, taking on the Championship play-off winners, before welcoming Ipswich to Old Trafford on 30 August – another newly promoted side and, on paper at least, a gentle route back into top-flight rhythm.

Outside the club, that schedule has already drawn knowing looks and confident predictions: United should fly out of the blocks, keep riding the momentum of last season’s third-place finish and justify the decision to hand Carrick the job on a permanent basis.

Carrick does not buy the narrative for a second.

“A newly promoted team away from home is a tough game,” he said, looking ahead to the trip to Hull. “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 has seen enough of these occasions to know how they usually feel. A packed stadium. A fanbase riding the high of promotion. A team desperate to prove they belong. For Carrick, that is the opposite of comfortable.

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

The fixtures might look kind on a spreadsheet. Carrick’s message is that the Premier League never does.