Michael Carrick dismissed as "ridiculous" a suggestion that his Manchester United side lacked passion during their opening-day Premier League defeat at Hull City on Saturday.
United arrived at the MKM Stadium as heavy favourites against the newly-promoted side but trailed 2-0 at half-time. Semi Ajayi put the home side ahead before Nobel Mendy doubled the lead just before the break.
Carrick's response to passion question
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Carrick insisted his side did "a lot of good things" but reacted sharply when former striker Jan Aage Fjortoft put it to him that United lacked fight in the opening 45 minutes.
"Oh come on, that's ridiculous! You played football. You understand. That's a ridiculous thing to say. Just because you get beat doesn't mean you don't care about it," Carrick said.
"The two goals came from set plays. Other than that, we had opportunities. That was where the game was. I don't think it was passion or anything to do with that. I think it was just their moments that made the difference in the game."
Measured reflection on defeat
Carrick had warned his side before the match that it would not be a comfortable afternoon, with the MKM Stadium lively from the first minute as home fans celebrated their first top-flight game since 2017.
Despite being second-best and conceding from two set-pieces, Carrick gave a measured response when asked to reflect on the defeat.
"It's a game of football, it's a Premier League game. It's their first game at home, and we've seen it many times before. You know, I said it before the game because it was always going to be a tough game," he said.
"And set-plays, yeah, that's it. We've been decent over a period of time at dealing with them and today we didn't. You know, we can look into that, we can dissect it. We certainly won't get carried away with the positives or the negatives. We never do. So I think we can stay calm and understand what we need to get better at."
Transfer window plans
With a deal for Carlos Baleba close to being completed and United still in the market for a left-back, the end of the transfer window could be busy. When asked which area of the squad needs strengthening most, Carrick gave little away.
"We're trying to improve the squad, so we'll see what happens in the rest of the window," he said.
