Carrick Dismisses 'Favourable Start' Talk as United Prepares for Hull and Ipswich

Michael Carrick is having none of it. Hull away, Ipswich at home – on paper, it looks like a gentle glide into the new season for Manchester United. Carrick insists it is anything but.

United open at Hull on Saturday before welcoming Ipswich to Old Trafford the following Sunday, both opponents fresh from promotion out of the Championship. To some, that’s a soft launch. To Carrick, it’s a trap to be avoided.

“For all of us to know this league, there’s no favourable start, I think it’s a tough start,” he said. “A promoted team away from home is a tough game.

“I’ve been involved in them in the past so I’m fully aware of what’s coming at us on Saturday, what we’ve got to be ready for. So it’s not favourable. It’s an easy thing to throw out there. But it’s pretty ridiculous in a certain way, [we are] not taking it that way at all.”

He knows how these occasions work: a packed home crowd, a promoted side desperate to prove it belongs, tackles flying, adrenaline high. Complacency is punished. Quickly.

Title talk and a higher bar

Carrick earned his permanent appointment by dragging United into third last season, initially as an interim from January and then as the man trusted to steady and then raise the bar. That turnaround has inevitably fuelled talk of a title push.

Is it realistic? He did not duck the question.

“It is going to be a jump,” said the 45-year-old. “I would never say we can’t – I don’t believe that. But it’s about what we are capable of doing as a group.

“The run of form we had last season gives us a lot of confidence, but we know there is a whole new step to make. We are pushing to do that. It’s exciting. We have the potential to achieve things and we will definitely give it everything we can. We have to believe we are a good team and can do good things.”

The message is clear: last season’s surge is the starting point, not the destination.

Transfers and a late-window push

Off the pitch, United are still trying to arm Carrick for that next step. The club are hopeful of landing Carlos Baleba from Brighton, aiming to drive the fee below £75m, and they are still hunting a left-back before the window shuts.

“We are looking to strengthen the squad, working towards that,” Carrick said. “We are trying to make the most of the opportunities to finish the window stronger than we went into it and are in a good way to doing that so far.”

Baleba would add power and legs to the midfield, an area United want greater depth in if they are to withstand the grind of a title race and European commitments. The search for a left-back underlines the same theme: more options, more resilience.

Mount a doubt for opener

Not every piece is in place for Hull. Mason Mount, who would offer creativity and control in those opening exchanges against a fired-up promoted side, is a doubt after taking a knock. His availability is “in the balance” for the trip.

Carrick will not lean on excuses. He has spent the summer talking about standards, not shortcuts. Hull away and Ipswich at home might not scream glamour, but if United really intend to jump from third to champions, these are exactly the sort of fixtures they must handle with cold efficiency.

The season starts in the noise of a promoted side’s big day. United’s response will tell plenty about how serious their title ambitions truly are.