_SEVEN ASIDES
Premier League
Hull 2, United 0_
**Until this month, Michael Carrick’s United had never suffered a collapse.** They had never lost by more than one goal. Now they’ve done it twice in eight days, and both times against a back three. At Hull, a battle of the roses turned out to be a game of nowts and crosses. United sent in 39 crosses, Hull only 15, but it was two of Hull’s (both from set pieces) that won the match. And United were left to ponder several zeros. No goals, and therefore no assists. No shots that hit the woodwork, no chances from set pieces, no spells when they seemed bound to score. Since leading 2-1 against AC Milan, they have now conceded five goals and scored none. It’s not a crisis, but it’s certainly a worry.
**United were stuck in pre-season, lacking urgency, sharpness and a cutting edge.** They missed Amad, with his tireless pressing. They missed Casemiro, with his passing, shielding and heading (this was just the kind of game in which he would have got a goal back). His replacement, Andrey Santos, had shone in the warm-up games but he was barely visible here. Alongside him, Youri Tielemans confirmed the feeling that he may be the new Christian Eriksen by starting his United stint with some uncharacteristic blunders. To be fair, though, he was unlucky to concede the free kick that brought the second goal. He and Santos both passed pretty well without ever finding the killer pass. United had more possession than was good for them – 72 per cent of it. That was more than in any game last season, even the fiasco at Grimsby (70). They out-passed Hull not just in terms of quantity, with 669 passes to 257, but quality too, with 88pc accuracy to 70. And yet they were out-played, because they were out-fought and out-thought. Sergej Jakirovic watched United against Milan, saw how much space they gave the opposing wing-backs, and built his game plan on that single observation. It was too easy.
**Michael Carrick said two wise things, one before and one after the game.** Beforehand, he scoffed at the suggestion that United would have a cushy start to the season, pointing out that playing away at a promoted side is never easy. Afterwards, he was sanguine enough to note that bits of the performance had been good. This wasn’t like when Erik ten Hag, in his first away game, lost 4-0 at Brentford: it wasn’t a load of rubbish. Of the 14 players who were given more than a few minutes, about half were respectable – Senne Lammens making good saves, Harry Maguire passing well, Luke Shaw going on the attack while also getting back to defend, Noussair Mazraoui denying Oli McBurnie a golden chance, Bryan Mbeumo making things happen, Marcus Rashford putting crosses on the head of Benjamin Sesko, Kobbie Mainoo being typically tidy in tight spaces. But it wasn’t enough, because the rest of them had come as the seven dwarfs. Ayden Heaven was wobbly, Patrick Dorgu sloppy, Tielemans sleepy, Santos shaky, Matheus Cunha creaky, Sesko rusty, Bruno Fernandes tetchy.
**So where did Carrick go wrong?** He didn’t seem to see the danger of another team with wing-backs (though it may have been one reason why he picked Dorgu, to give Shaw a hand). He started two players, Tielemans and Cunha, who looked as if they were still weary from the World Cup (though Cunha did get better, playing the pass of the match with his through ball to Mbeumo). Forced to adjust by Amad’s late injury, Carrick put Cunha as the striker, which didn’t work against a back three: Cunha was so deep-lying and so ineffectual, he might as well have been Joshua Zirkzee. Carrick acknowledged his mistake at half-time by swapping Cunha with Mbeumo, who had led the line well in pre-season. Carrick, who can be slow with his subs, did well to send one on at half-time (Rashford for Dorgu). But he didn’t come up with a plan B after that, beyond sending Maguire up front. It’s as if, when the managers shook hands at the Milan game, Carrick was infected with a bit of Ruben Amorim’s thinking – and his haplessness on the east coast of England.
**If United had brought their shooting boots, it would have been 2-2.** According to xG, it should even have been 2-1 to United (1.81-1.26). In open play United’s xG was 20 times Hull’s (1.5-0.07), but from set pieces Hull’s was streets better (1.19-0.03). Hull had one corner and scored from it, while United had six that yielded, between them, not even a tenth of a decent chance.
**There were slivers of hope.** United weren’t as bad as Spurs were at Brentford or as City had been against Arsenal. Rashford returned, with no fuss and plenty of applause from the travelling support, played pretty well and joined his old mate Shaw on the left, for the first time in a competitive match (I think) since the win at Luton in February 2024. They showed glimpses of their old rapport and, according to Sofascore, played four key passes apiece. That was more than anybody else on either side including Fernandes (three), who nearly always tops this little table. United need him to find something resembling the form of last season, but he has credit in the bank – and so does Carrick.
**If the problem was just the players’ sharpness, we needn’t worry too much.** After this reality check, they will surely sharpen up sharpish. The trouble is that United are now known to have a weakness against teams with flying wing-backs. Leeds showed it last season, Milan confirmed it last weekend, and now Hull have rammed it home. It’s unlikely to hurt United in big games, as the top clubs hardly ever field a back five. But it could cost them dearly against medium-sized teams ranging from Brentford to Forest and Palace. This pair of collapses will leave them less secure and make opponents smell blood. Next they face another promoted side, Ipswich, who started brightly by beating Sunderland and will now be less overawed by Old Trafford than than they might been. United badly need to bounce back.
_Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian, where he had the dubious honour of [live-blogging this game](https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/aug/22/hull-city-v-manchester-united-premier-league-live). He has been supporting United since [they last lost 2-0 at Hull](https://www.mufcinfo.com/manupag/match_data/match_sql.php?my_match_date=1974-11-23)._