Hull City stun Man United 2-0 to end a 52-year wait

Hull City beat Manchester United 2-0 at the MKM Stadium in front of 24,470 supporters and pulled off something they had never managed before: beating the Old Trafford club in the Premier League. Semi Ajayi struck on 17 minutes and Nobel Mendy headed in on 38, both from set pieces. It was Saturday's 11:30 kick-off and the loudest result of the opening weekend.

You need dates to measure the scale of the shock. The last time Hull had beaten United in the league was November 1974, fifty-two years ago. And since Matty Fryatt's goal in May 2014, the club had not scored a single Premier League goal against them in thirty-seven attempts. On Saturday they scored two in one afternoon.

Two blows cut from the same cloth

• 17' Ajayi: a worked set piece finished off by the centre-back
• 38' Mendy: a header from another dead ball, on his debut
• Bookings: Patrick Dorgu (United) on 34, Crooks (Hull) on 42, Millar (Hull) on 90+6
• Just five shots on target from United across the whole match

The second goal carried an extra layer: Nobel Mendy scored it on the very day he made his debut for the club. A player pulling on the shirt for the first time and delivering the goal that finishes off the Old Trafford side is exactly the sort of detail that turns a win into an afternoon a football city like Hull talks about for decades.

Both goals came from the same source. Hull never tried to win the game with the ball: they won it in the two boxes and in the duels. They took 63 per cent of their individual battles, a number that explains the scoreline better than any possession graphic.

Tzolakis, the wall

When United pushed, the goalkeeper appeared. Konstantinos Tzolakis was named man of the match and protected his clean sheet through the spells when the visitors piled bodies forward. United had the ball; what they did not have was accuracy or clarity.

A historic first in the home dugout

Hull's manager is Sergej Jakirovic, and this match made him the first Bosnian coach to take charge in the Premier League. His team came into the weekend with eight or nine first-team players injured and with almost every prediction placing them twentieth, bottom of the pile and relegated before a ball had been kicked.

None of that showed on the pitch. The plan was recognisable from the first minute: a compact block, quick transitions and total concentration on every corner and every wide free kick. Ryan Slater was the man who started both of the goalscoring routines.

United make another poor start

Michael Carrick lost his opening league fixture for a second season in a row. It is a record the club had not matched since 1973, and it lands just when the demand to take a step forward was at its highest.

The summer did little to build expectations either. United spent roughly £85m gross, but the net outlay was around £30m because there were sales along the way. The most eye-catching move, the signing of Carlos Baleba for about £70m, was announced only on the Friday before this game: far too late to change anything at the MKM.

The gap between those two figures explains much of the mood. Spending £85m gross sounds like serious investment; a net figure of around £30m means the club has funded most of its arrivals by selling players, and that the squad has not grown as much as the headline suggests. In a dressing room that needed clear signals of ambition, that nuance weighs heavier than it looks.

The words afterwards

Jakirovic celebrated with both feet on the ground. He called it a huge day for the city and the club, insisted his players had competed exactly as they had prepared during the week and pointed out that there are thirty-seven matchdays still to come.

Ajayi, who scored the opener, pointed to the work on the training ground: he said they had rehearsed those routines and that it came off exactly as intended. In the other dressing room, Carrick took responsibility and accepted that his side had not matched the intensity of their opponents, without hiding behind the kick-off time or the state of the pitch. Bruno Fernandes was even more direct about the lack of a cutting edge and the tempo they were missing in the first half.

What this result means

One matchday does not decide a season, but it does set the conversation. Hull, written off by almost everybody, sit on three points and now know their plan works against one of the big clubs. United start from scratch again, with the feeling that a thin transfer window leaves them little room for error.

There is one detail worth remembering before drawing firm conclusions: Hull won this game with close to ten players missing. If they get bodies back, the team seen on Saturday will not be their best version but their emergency one.

"Fifty-two years waiting for an afternoon like this, and it arrived on the opening weekend, at half past eleven in the morning, with two set-piece goals and an enormous goalkeeper."