Hull City triumphs in Premier League return with victory over Manchester United
Hull City marked their long-awaited return to the Premier League in absolutely dream fashion, thumping Manchester United 2-0 at the MKM Stadium this afternoon, reports BritPanorama.
Two first-half goals from set-pieces were enough to sink the 20-time champions, who arrived in Yorkshire with genuine optimism after finishing third last season and handing Michael Carrick a permanent contract.
Instead, Carrick’s first competitive match as full-time boss turned into a nightmare, with his side going 2-0 down inside 38 minutes against a team widely tipped for relegation. Semi Ajayi stunned the home crowd into delirium just 17 minutes in, finding the net from a set-piece to give Hull a shock lead.
The goal was checked by VAR before being confirmed, but it was the defending that really had United fans tearing their hair out. Replays showed something truly bizarre—Harry Maguire appeared to have his arms wrapped around team-mate Noussair Mazraoui as the ball came in, with the pair seemingly marking each other rather than any Hull player.
Nobel Mendy then doubled Hull’s advantage before half-time, again from a set-piece, leaving United’s defence looking utterly lost. Carrick had reshuffled his squad over the summer, bringing in Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, both of whom were handed their debuts in Yorkshire. Neither managed to make much of an impression, though, in what was a thoroughly flat team performance.
Marcus Rashford, back at Old Trafford after a loan spell at Barcelona, was thrown on as a substitute at the break in a bid to spark some life into the attack. It didn’t work. He struggled to make any impact, along with most of his team-mates, in a display that showed United remain a long way from challenging for the title they last won under Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2013.
As if the result wasn’t painful enough, things got even worse for the travelling United faithful in the 73rd minute. Hull’s stadium announcer came over the tannoy to deliver some unwelcome news: “The 15:03 and 16:03 services towards Manchester have been cancelled. Passengers affected by these cancellations should check the latest service information.”
The home fans absolutely loved it, sarcastically cheering the announcement while many of the Red Devils supporters who’d made the near 100-mile trip were left wondering how on earth they’d get home. Hull supporters twisted the knife further, chanting at the away end: “You’re going home in a taxi.”
To cap off a truly historic afternoon for the Tigers, the victory was their first ever over Manchester United in the English top flight. What a day.
