Hull City, promoted through the Championship play-offs, beat Manchester United 2-0 at the MKM Stadium on Saturday in the opening match of the Premier League season. Both goals came from set pieces and both arrived before half-time.

The goals

Semi Ajayi scored in the 17th minute. The two accounts we read describe it differently: Al Jazeera has it as a close-range finish off a deflection following a shot by McBurnie, while ESPN describes a header from a corner. We are noting the discrepancy rather than choosing between them.

There is no such disagreement about the second. In the 38th minute Nobel Mendy headed in from a free kick delivered by Regan Slater. Both publications record it the same way.

United did not respond. ESPN's analysis puts them at five shots on target across the ninety minutes.

What it means for Hull

Al Jazeera notes that these were Hull's first Premier League goals in nine years. ESPN reports it as their first league win over Manchester United since 1974.

Hull finished sixth in the Championship last season and won promotion through the play-offs, taking the final at Wembley. Al Jazeera adds that they were without ten players through injury.

Lewie Coyle, the Hull defender, was direct about the scale of it. "Before we went to bed last night, we couldn't have dreamt it any better," he said. "It'll be a shock to people, I'm not saying it's 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."

He also set out the ambition beyond one afternoon: "We're not just here to make the numbers up, we're here to stay in this division."

What it means for United

This was Michael Carrick's first league match as permanent manager, and the questions it raises are structural rather than atmospheric. Two goals conceded from set pieces in one half is a specific, coachable failure, and it is the kind that tends to recur until it is fixed.

Carrick did not minimize the result. "It's hugely disappointing, of course it is," he said. "We came here to win, so to not take anything away is hugely disappointing. It's not more than that, not less."

He was equally clear about the response he wants. "We just don't all have to shout and scream and create some chaos," he said. "Calmness doesn't mean there's no emotion in it. It hurts, of course, but it doesn't change the direction of where the football club is going."

Marcus Rashford, back from a loan at Barcelona and now wearing the number nine, started on the bench and came on at half-time without changing the game. Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos made their debuts in midfield; Al Jazeera's report describes both as anonymous.

The caution worth stating

It is one match, on the first weekend, and the table means nothing in August. Opening-day upsets are a fixture of the English season and most of them are forgotten by October.

What is not nothing is the manner of it. A newly promoted side missing ten players scored twice from dead balls against a team expected to compete near the top, and the losing manager's own account was that his side had "a bit to improve on". Whether that becomes a season or an afternoon is the only open question, and it will not be settled this week.