Michael Carrick admits the arrival of 11 new players will make preparing for Hull City on Saturday extra challenging for his Manchester United players.
Since promotion to the Premier League at Wembley in late May, the Tigers have made a host of new signings, including goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis and Nobel Mendy, both costing in the region of £20m each.
Tzolakis will start in goal for City, but it remains to be seen how many of City’s other new signings who are fit and available will begin the lunchtime contest in front of the television cameras.
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The bulk of the Tigers Wembley heroes are expected to kick the campaign off, with a flurry of injuries hampering their preparations, but Carrick will take nothing for granted in preparing to face Sergej Jakirovic’s side in what will be a vibrant MKM Stadium atmosphere.
“That is the beauty of the new season,” Carrick said. “Certainly, for teams coming up in the league, for the most part, there tend to be quite a few changes in the playing group, so that is always the challenge playing against them. There is that freshness, there is that buzz around the football club of coming into the Premier League and what that brings.
“Again, we are fully aware of that; we will be prepared, obviously. Mentally and physically, we have done a lot of work. Mentally, we will be prepared. We know what the game is going to bring and how good we need to be to bring the right result.”
Some have suggested United have been given a favourable start to the season, with Saturday’s trip to East Yorkshire followed by the visit of another newly-promoted side in Ipswich Town, providing the first Old Trafford test of the campaign.
Naturally, Carrick played down suggestions of United being given an ‘easy start’ as some pundits have suggested, and knows if his side are not at it, they’ll come unstuck against the Tigers.
“I think it is a tough start. Both teams, but not getting past Saturday, I think a newly promoted team away from home is a tough, tough game,” he continued.
“I have been involved in them in the past, so I am fully aware of what’s at stake and what’s coming at us on Saturday and what we have to be ready for. It is not favourable. It is an easy thing to throw out there, but it’s pretty ridiculous in a certain way.”
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