Manchester United kicked off their 2026/27 Premier League campaign with a shocking display against newly promoted Hull City. A ruined chance for new signings Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans to show what they can bring to United's midfield.

Michael Carrick's side were far from good, with Semi Ajayi opening the scoring for Hull after 17 minutes after Senne Lammens parried a strike from Oli McBurnie into the path of the centre back, leaving a clear route to goal.

United simply could not reply, eventually finding themselves two goals down after another set piece. This time, a free kick swung in by Regan Slater, finding the glancing head of Nobel Mendy on his debut for the tigers, nodding his effort past a helpless Lammens.

Again, United could not open up the solid Hull defence, with Greek goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis sweeping up every half-chance that United could stir up.

The introductions of Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo and Benjamin Sesko still not enough to break through as the full-time whistle eventually sounded, leaving United stunned with only themselves to blame.

Following the game, captain Bruno Fernandes shared his assessment of the loss touching on what went wrong this afternoon.

He stated: "I understand the frustration. Every season that starts, we want to compete and go forward as we can, winning every game. We need them [fans] on our side, like last season, believing in us."

He continued: "We know in the Premier League these types of away grounds are difficult to play against.

"You need to match their intensity and aggression. Two set pieces ended up costing us the game today."

The game proved United's inability to follow runs in set pieces, ultimately punishing Carrick's side twice. However, that should not overshadow United's subpar display in the final third, with poor end product, a lack of clear chances and general slowness in attacks.

This is a fraction of what United fans saw in pre-season, where United were able to hit teams with fast attacking moves using quick one-touch interplay to create gaps.

Coming up against Hull, United were expected to dominate the game, particularly with their summer recruits, Tielemans and Santos. But the pair failed to get a hold of the game as United were simply overrun across the midfield.

Perhaps the introduction of Carlos Baleba, who is set to arrive as United's third midfield signing, will fill the gap and bring the missing athleticism. Regardless, the squad need to address their weaknesses exposed by Hull. This includes the fullbacks, with the consistently poor crosses proving to be damaging to the team.

Sesko's introduction should have brought the presence in the penalty area for United to find, but he was only found once by Marcus Rashford in the game. All other crosses from Luke Shaw and Noussair Mazraoui were simply blocked by the first man or flew over everybody.

Heading into next week, United will face Ipswich in what will presumably be another compact defence for United to break down. After seeing what that can bring today, changes must be made.