Manchester United vs Hull City after Tielemans' comments

Manchester United lost 0-2 to Hull City on the opening day, and the physical numbers made the defeat look even harder to explain. Hull won 58.8% of the duels and 57.9% of the aerial duels, then made six interceptions to United's two in Hull City vs Manchester United. Youri Tielemans' pre-season line about the work done before the season has come back into view for the wrong reasons.

Hull's physical edge

Tielemans had said: "Just sharp, that's what it's been like mostly." He then added: "No. When you come back from the World Cup, you don't do loads of running. Just chill."

Rio Ferdinand reacted with a simple, blunt "What?" at the time, and Hull's opening-day display gave that disbelief some weight. United were second best in the duels, second best in the air and second best in recovering possession. Tielemans also finished with 0 tackles won, while Andrey Santos won 1.

The most awkward part for United is that Hull did not need a long period of control to land the damage. Both goals stemmed from crosses into the penalty area, which fits a match where the hosts were stronger on contact and in the air.

Carrick's reaction after the defeat

Michael Carrick did not try to dress the performance up. Speaking after the game, he said: "Some of it was OK, there's bits to improve on. It was never going to be perfect, but going behind and giving ourselves a lot to do makes it more difficult. It was a typical one of those games, with a newly-promoted team at home. You can't give them much, they've got a lot to hold on to. After that, we had moments and opportunities but we didn't have the spark to put the chances away or create any more. We're bitterly disappointed with the result, but we won't let it knock us."

That leaves Manchester United with an early loss, a poor set of physical numbers and a post-match explanation that still leans on missed moments rather than control. The table already has them down in 16th after opening day, and the next league match will have to show a sharper response than this one did.