Hull stun Manchester United 2-0 to hand Carrick a damaging Premier League opener

Manchester United suffered a chastening start to the Premier League season on Saturday, losing 2-0 to newly promoted Hull City at the MKM Stadium in a performance that exposed familiar defensive frailties under manager Michael Carrick.

Semi Ajayi headed Hull in front from a corner before Nobel Mendy converted from a free kick, both goals arriving from dead-ball situations that Carrick admitted had proved decisive. “We’ve been pretty good at set-pieces for a period of time, but it’s decided the game,” he said. Hull manager Sergey Jakirovic was more cryptic about his preparation: “We tried something on Friday. We had some plan there to try and punish them.” His strategy, he smiled, “is a secret”.

United were frail throughout. The new midfield pairing of Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos — a combined outlay of £83m — were substituted together after being outworked by Hull’s Regan Slater, a £50,000 signing, and Matt Crooks, a self-confessed United fan. “Cheapest midfield two in the league,” Crooks said afterwards. The result has added urgency to United’s reported £70m pursuit of Carlos Baleba.

Carrick, who guided United through an impressive half-season run after taking charge mid-campaign, was blunt in his assessment. “Bitterly disappointed,” he said. Only four of United’s outfield starters had featured at the World Cup, removing any obvious excuse for rustiness.

For Hull, the victory was a statement that their promotion from the Championship was no fluke. Eight of their starting eleven had played in the play-off final victory over Middlesbrough in May, and Jakirovic’s side were disciplined, aggressive in the press and clinical when chances arrived. Ajayi, who joined on a free transfer last summer during a club embargo, scored Hull’s first top-flight goal since 2017. Mendy, the £22m acquisition from Real Betis, added the second.

“I had to convince my players that we are capable of playing at this level,” Jakirovic said. On this evidence, no further convincing is required.