Hull City 2-0 Manchester United: 72% of the ball, and not one thing to show for it

Manchester United had 71.5% of the ball, 21 shots and 574 accurate passes at the MKM Stadium. Hull City had two set pieces' worth of ideas and three points.

Semi Ajayi poked in the opener at 17 after Regan Slater's corner caused chaos United never got under control. At 38, Slater again — this time a free-kick to the back post — and Nobel Mendy headed the second. Two dead balls, two goals, game gone before the break.

It is Hull's first league win over Manchester United since 1974, and exactly the kind of afternoon that makes a promoted side believe the season is survivable.

United's problem was never the ball

Michael Carrick's side did not lack possession. They lacked anything to do with it. Five shots on target from 21 attempts, and their clearest second-half moment — Bryan Mbeumo, through on goal — was pushed away by Konstantinos Tzolakis.

Marcus Rashford came on at half-time for Patrick Dorgu, his first competitive appearance for United in 618 days. It changed the noise in the ground rather more than it changed the game.

The expected goals line is the uncomfortable part for Hull's celebration and for United's inquest alike: 1.81 to 1.26 in United's favour. This was not a smash-and-grab. Hull created nearly as much from a quarter of the ball.

Match facts

• 17' — Semi Ajayi (Hull City), from a Regan Slater corner
• 38' — Nobel Mendy (Hull City), header from a Regan Slater free-kick
• HT — Marcus Rashford on for Dorgu: first United appearance in 618 days
• Hull's first league win over Manchester United since 1974

How it unfolded

Hull defended deep, defended well, and waited for dead balls. Slater delivered both of them. Ajayi's finish was scrappy and close range; Mendy's was a clean header at the far post from a free-kick United simply did not track.

The second half was 45 minutes of United passing sideways in front of a back line that never broke. Tzolakis made five saves. Hull won 50 duels to United's 35 — the number that best explains why the visitors never found a way through.

Carrick's answer came a week later, then unravelled again

United did not stay down for long. At Old Trafford seven days after Hull, they fell behind again — Leif Davis scored early for promoted Ipswich Town — and this time the response was emphatic. Bruno Fernandes equalised on 40, converted a penalty on 61 and completed his hat-trick on 68; Jacob Greaves put through his own net in between, Bryan Mbeumo added a fifth, and United won 5-2 with 33 shots to Ipswich's nine.

The good afternoon did not last either. A week after beating Ipswich, United led twice away at Everton and still only drew. Mbeumo put them ahead a minute into the second half, Benjamin Sesko restored the lead after Tyrique George had equalised, and Ainsley Maitland-Niles curled in a stoppage-time debut goal to make it 2-2. Three matchweeks, three different United performances — battered by Hull, ruthless against Ipswich, unable to close out a lead at Hill Dickinson Stadium — but one constant running through all of them: United have conceded two or more goals in every league match they have played this season.

Hull kept winning without United's problems

Hull's afternoon at the MKM Stadium turned out to be the start of a run, not a one-off. Sergej Jakirović's side followed it up with a 1-0 win at Coventry City in the first Premier League match ever played at the CBS Arena — Coventry had 69% of the ball and the better underlying numbers, but substitute Liam Millar settled it eight minutes from time on the counter-attack. A goalless draw with Aston Villa at the MKM Stadium made it three clean sheets from three games, Villa managing only one shot on target all afternoon despite 73.8% possession.

Where the two clubs stand now

Three matchweeks in, Hull City are 3rd on 7 points — two wins, a draw, no defeats, 3 goals scored and none conceded — sitting inside the Champions League places above clubs with far bigger squads. Manchester United are 11th on 4 points, with one win, one draw and one loss, 7 goals for and 6 against. Hull travel to Chelsea on Saturday 12 September; United host Manchester City in the Manchester derby the following day. Neither fixture looks anything like the one this article covers, which is exactly the point: a single result on the opening weekend, however lopsided the shot count, turned out to explain very little about how either season would actually start.