Michael Carrick on Manchester United's Tough Start to the Season
Michael Carrick is having none of it.
Favourable start? Easy opening fixtures? Not in his world.
Manchester United begin their season at Hull on Saturday before welcoming Ipswich to Old Trafford a week on Sunday – two newly promoted sides, two games many outside the club have already chalked up as routine wins. Carrick bristled at the suggestion.
“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.”
He has lived it. He has seen promoted sides treat the first day as a statement, not a celebration. The tempo, the crowd, the sense of nothing to lose. Carrick knows exactly what is coming.
“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,” he added. “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.”
From stabiliser to contender?
Carrick walks into this season with a different weight on his shoulders. Last term he took over in January as an interim, steadied a listing ship and drove United to third. Four months later he was rewarded with the job permanently. That rescue act has changed expectations.
Now the question is not whether United can recover. It is whether they can win.
He was asked directly if a title push is realistic. No dodging, no shrug.
“It is going to be a jump,” the 45-year-old admitted. “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 numbers from last season back up his optimism. United’s surge under Carrick has given the dressing room something solid to cling to, not just a feel-good story.
“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.”
Belief is one thing. Depth is another.
United push to finish window “stronger”
Behind the scenes, United are still working to give Carrick the tools for that jump. The club are hopeful of landing Carlos Baleba from Brighton, aiming to drive the fee below the £75m mark, and they have not parked their search for a left-back either.
“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.”
The message is clear: third was a start, not a destination.
There are shorter-term concerns too. Mason Mount is a doubt for the trip to Hull after taking a knock, his availability described as in the balance. Losing his energy and movement between the lines would be a blow to Carrick’s early-season plans.
Even so, the manager’s stance does not shift. No excuses. No soft landings. Hull away, Ipswich at home – two fixtures many see as gentle. Carrick sees them as the first hard test of whether this United side are ready to turn last season’s revival into something far more serious.
