MAN UTD MAULED!

THE DREAM CONTINUES FOR HULL CITY FANS

‘Probably before we all went to bed last night, we couldn’t have dreamt it any better’

24 ago 2026 - Hull Daily Mail

By BARRY COOPER barry.cooper@reachplc.com @bazdjcooper

HULL City’s players revelled in Saturday’s 2-0 triumph over Manchester United at the MKM Stadium, securing their firstever Premier League success against the Old Trafford giants.

First-half goals from Semi Ajayi and debutant Nobel Mendy fired City into dreamland to give them a comfortable, deserved success on opening day.

Ryan Giles was given Man of the Match, and he spoke to Hulllive after the game, while Coyle, Ajayi, Slater and Crooks all spoke to TNT Sports to give their thoughts on a memorable day at the MKM Stadium.

Lewie Coyle

“I think the noise speaks for itself,” he said. “Probably before we all went to bed last night, we couldn’t have dreamt it any better. To win 2-0 at home against Manchester United, of course, it’ll be a shock to a lot of people.

“I’m not saying that’s exactly how I thought it would go, but this team’s got something special in terms of character, resilience, and we know what we’re doing, we know what we are, we know we’re gonna get chances on the break.

You’re against a fantastic side, which we are going to be most weeks, and we know that’s the minimum it’s gonna take to give yourselves a chance, and yeah, just so proud of the boys, I think, for what we achieved last year.

“I said to them in the huddle before, we’re not just here to make the numbers up. We’re here to stay in this division, and what an incredible start for the boys.”

Semi Ajayi

“It was amazing, it capped off a really good start that we had,” Ajai said. “We had a couple of chances that we didn’t manage to take, but obviously that one got us in the lead, and we had something to build on, and I’m happy we went on to get the three points.

“I’m not going to lie, I thought he (Oli Mcburnie) scored as well, so we were celebrating, and he asked ‘Did you score,’ and I said I think so. But I didn’t really care if it was either of us in the moment, but I was buzzing it was ultimately my goal.

“We’re not really focused on all of the outside noise; we’re only focused on what’s going on in the changing room. We believe in ourselves, and we’ll back ourselves to do our best every single game, and with performances like this, hopefully, we’ll have a very good season.”

Regan Slater

“Yeah, it’s massive,” Slater said. “You can see it from the crowd. Unfortunately, League One was a COVID season, but you can see what it means to everyone.

“The place was rocking like it was the back end of last season as well, so it’s nice to see that he’s carried on, and also that we picked up from where we left off. It was a really nice, solid performance from us to go and build on now.

“Definitely (it makes you proud to play in the Premier League), especially when you look over and

see your family in the crowd. Everything that they’ve done to help me get here as well, it’s unbelievable.”

Matt Crooks

“All my family are from Manchester, we’ve been season ticket holders for over 40 years,” he said. “We’ve still got them to this day, so it’s a special feeling for me, but it’s a great result for the club, and it’s a good start to the Premier League season.

“A lot of people probably didn’t see us last year in the Championship. We probably didn’t have much of the ball last year in the Championship either, so it wasn’t really any different to our style that we played last year.

“We wanted it to be compact. We knew they’d wanna play through the middle, so we kind of blocked that up, and I thought we did our jobs well, and obviously we took our chances in the first half. Second half, we probably could have had a couple of opportunities, probably my fault for giving the ball away, but we’ve hung on in there and got the job done.”

Ryan Giles

“Yeah, brilliant, a fantastic day for the football club, delighted for everybody,” Giles said. “I’m hoping that sends a bit of a message out to the rest of the league and everybody watching that we’re not just here to make the numbers up. We know it’s going to be tough, but there’s a good core in that dressing room with brilliant togetherness and brilliant resilience. I feel like if we can just stick to that, we’ll go toe to toe with a lot of teams this year.”

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24 Aug 2026 - Hull Daily Mail
Hull City fans mock Joe Cole as Man Utd left reeling

HULL City supporters chanted ‘Are you watching Joe Cole’ after they stormed into a 2-0 lead against Manchester United

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Joe Cole

Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead by halftime leaving Michael Carrick looking shell-shocked. Many tipped Hull to go straight back down to the Championship, particularly TNT Sport pundit and ex-chelsea star Joe Cole.

He even suggested he avoided his phone after the company asked him to cover the clash at the AXM Stadium. After Hull stormed into a two-goal lead, the home supporters made sure Cole knew they had not forgotten his snide comments.

They sang in unison “Are you watching Joe Cole” shortly after Mendy made it 2-0. His comments were blasted not long after he made them in an appearance on the Dressing Room podcast.

The ex-England international said: “Hull are gone, man. I’ll be stunned if they stayed up, they came in through the back door.

“TNT Sports have contacted me for the new season. They tried to slip in the Hull one for the first game of the season, I put my phone on ‘do not disturb.”

Tigers’ boss Sergej Jakirovic was certainly not phased by Cole’s comments. Before the game, he said: “I’m buzzing. Of course there’s a very big gap between the Championship and Premier League.

“We’re up against the best teams, players and managers and I’ve seen all the predictions. But it’s a great motivation to prove them wrong because we don’t have anything to lose.

“What we did last season was a very big achievement, but this is football and what happened yesterday doesn’t matter any more. We want to improve and show that we can develop to do even better as a team.

“Of course we need another miracle to survive. It will be an even bigger achievement than winning promotion if we manage to stay up. We need 40 points, so everything is very clear.”

Mendy’s goal would have been particularly sweet for Jakirovic and the Hull board. He was a £21million signing from Spanish side Rayo Vallecano.

He headed in Regan Slater’s cross to double the Tigers lead, after Semi Ajayi opened the lead by tapping in a rebound in the 17th minute.

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‘It’s one of the shocks of the season already’

EX-PLAYERS may have been queuing up to write off Hull City before a ball was kicked ahead of the new Premier League season, but there was a flurry keen to give credit to the newly promoted side on Saturday.

Relegated by some even before they began the campaign against Manchester United, City gave their critics food for thought when they swept aside the Red Devils with a confident, comfortable win at the MKM Stadium.

Former United star Wayne Rooney and England hero Alan Shearer may have been scathing in their assessment of United, but they were full of praise for City’s work.

Ten years after their last appearance on the Premier League edition of Match of the Day, City were back and in some style, featuring top of the much-discussed running order on Saturday night.

Wayne Rooney

“There was a lack of intensity and closing down. They couldn’t really get close to Hull, and they really suffered from crosses into the box and couldn’t deal with them well enough. They didn’t really create much, which was the biggest worry.

“When you play a promoted team, it’s always difficult. First game of the season away from home, and I think United just didn’t seem ready for it.

“Hull were fantastic. The manager was spot on when he talked about preparation. I watched Manchester United against AC Milan and they struggled stopping crosses into the box. Hull looked like they played on that; they got the ball out wide, put good crosses in the box and caused United problems. They defended well in the second half. They looked powerful, they looked strong. United didn’t look at the races, and Hull overpowered them in both boxes. That won them the game.”

Alan Shearer

“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, highenergy football. There was only one team that looked fit there, and it wasn’t Manchester United.

“From the very first minute, you saw the energy, you saw the intensity, but that would be the worrying thing. You know that as a team, going away from home to a newly promoted team, you know what you’re gonna get, and you have to match them as a minimum, and Man United didn’t, they couldn’t live with Hull.”

Ally McCoist

“It’s one of the shocks of the season already, it really is,” he said on TNT Sports. “A lot of people, myself included, had Hull to go back down, but if they can keep this level of performance going, you never know. Hull were supremely organised with a back five. A great result. Manchester United more than a little concerned.”

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SERGEJ’S SO PROUD

TIGERS STUN FOOTBALL WORLD WITH OPENING DAY VICTORY OVER MAN UTD

24 Aug 2026 - Hull Daily Mail

By BARRY COOPER barry.cooper@reachplc.com @bazdjcooper

HULL City head coach Sergej Jakirovic praised his players for their deserved 2-0 win over Manunited, to mark their return to the Premier League in style.

First-half goals from defenders Semi Ajayi and debutant Nobel Mendy gave City a commanding lead at the break.

Rarely in the second half were City troubled by a blunt United attack, which included Benjamin Sesko and Marcus Rashford off the bench, and were beaten for the first time in the Premier League by the Tigers, in front of a jubilant sell-out crowd.

“I’m feeling excellent, and I’m very happy because of how our players put everything on the pitch today,” Jakirovic told the Mail.

“Everything that we agreed on in the meeting this week, everything that we tried to practice went as planned, and this is the result in the end. I’m very, very pleased with them.”

Jakirovic says the players and staff had a plan of attack for United from set-pieces, and it worked a treat with both goals coming from a corner and a freekick.

“We tried something on Friday, so we had some plan there to try to punish them, how they’re standing, especially on the wide free kicks to make some blocks

there, and then we saw Nobel and Semi score.”

Home form is always so crucial for newly promoted teams, and for City to get a huge win to kick off their season, it sets them up well for the visit of Aston Villa in a couple of weeks.

“It’s a big boost for us for the future,” the Croatian continued. “I spoke last week about the possibility that we can win.

“This is maybe the key because I have to convince my players that we are capable of playing at this level. We showed last season that we are strong, very mentally strong, and that we can compete against everyone. Maybe this is the key, and they showed it today on the pitch.”

Jakirovic added that Ajayi, Mendy and Coyle will all be assessed in the next 24 hours after the trio were forced off in the second half with injuries and are now doubts for tomorrow’s Carabao Cup tie at Championship side Stoke City.