Carrick snaps at passion accusation after Manchester United fall to Hull on opening day

Manchester United began their Premier League campaign with a 2-0 defeat to newly-promoted Hull City at the MKM Stadium on Saturday, with Michael Carrick defending his players’ commitment in a heated post-match exchange.

Semi Ajayi opened the scoring for Hull before Nobel Mendy doubled the advantage just before half-time, both goals arriving from set-pieces. United, heavy favourites against a side returning to the top flight for the first time since 2017, struggled to impose themselves on a raucous home crowd.

Carrick’s composure slipped briefly when former striker Jan Aage Fjortoft suggested United had lacked fight in the opening 45 minutes. “Oh come on, that’s ridiculous!” Carrick replied. “You played football. You understand. That’s a ridiculous thing to say. Just because you get beat doesn’t mean you don’t care about it.”

The United manager was quick to redirect the conversation toward the tactical specifics. “The two goals came from set plays. Other than that, we had opportunities. That was where the game was. I don’t think it was passion or anything to do with that. I think it was just their moments that made the difference.”

Carrick had flagged the difficulty of the fixture before kick-off, and he maintained a measured tone when reflecting on the broader picture. “It’s their first game at home, and we’ve seen it many times before,” he said. “Set-plays — we’ve been decent over a period of time at dealing with them and today we didn’t. We certainly won’t get carried away with the positives or the negatives. We never do.”

United remain active in the transfer market, with a deal for Carlos Baleba reported to be close and a left-back still on the club’s shopping list. Carrick declined to specify which area of the squad he considers the priority. “We’re trying to improve the squad, so we’ll see what happens in the rest of the window,” he said.