Alan Shearer has labelled Manchester United's players 'unfit' after their 2-0 defeat at Hull City in their Premier League opener. Michael Carrick's side fell behind to first-half goals from Hull defenders Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy, both from set pieces, and never recovered.
Shearer's scathing verdict
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Shearer said: "I haven't seen Manchester United in pre-season. I saw them in this game and they didn't look fit. They didn't look ready to play 90 minutes of intense, high pressure, high energy football. There was only one team that looked fit there and it wasn't Manchester United."
United found themselves behind inside 17 minutes when Ajayi pounced on a rebound after Senne Lammens denied Oli McBurnie from a corner. Hull doubled their lead before half-time when Mendy converted an excellent free-kick from Regan Slater.
Fernandes critical of display
Captain Bruno Fernandes criticised his team's performance, telling TNT Sports: "Same mistakes as we did last season, every away game we give too much of the ball to them. In the first 20 minutes, the goalkeeper was the one with the most touches. We needed to press more, be more aggressive, and then again we need to work on set-plays and not concede these type of goals. Against these types of teams, they are waiting for that moment."
Fernandes added: "We knew before the game set-pieces would be a big part of their game. They played all pre-season with a back four but had a five against us for some height, for these moments. The most frustrating thing is that we lost the game."
Carrick vows to learn
Carrick was less critical of the performance but vowed to learn from it ahead of next Sunday's home game against Ipswich, another newly promoted outfit. "I'm not going into areas [to improve] now, it's for us to know and we'll improve through the week and in the games," Carrick told TNT Sports. "When we keep getting stronger as a group, that'll come. Today's a game we can't ignore, we have a lot to learn from it - but we will."
