It took just one round of the Premier League to puncture the preseason positivity surrounding Manchester United and Tottenham.
Saturday in England's top division began with United, the 20-time champion with a new permanent manager and a freshly renovated midfield, getting rolled over by promoted Hull in an embarrassing 2-0 loss.
It ended with Tottenham, one of the biggest spenders in Europe this summer with $300 million — and counting — of new players
in its squad, getting overwhelmed in a 3-0 defeat at Brentford.
In the middle was a win for Everton in front of Britain's recently installed prime minister and a victory for another promoted club, Ipswich.
Hull made a dream return to the top flight after a nine-year absence but much of the post-match chatter was about Man United's shortcomings.
First-half goals from Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy at set-pieces consigned United to a tepid loss away to a team that was promoted via the second-tier Championship playoffs and is widely expected to be among the relegation candidates.
"It was never going to be perfect,” said Michael Carrick, who was rewarded for leading United to a third-place finish last season and a return to the Champions League with a permanent contract over the summer.
Carrick also was given a new central-midfield duo in Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos — Brighton's Carlos Baleba might be next — while Marcus Rashford returned from a loan spell at Barcelona and entered as a halftime substitute against Hull.
They struggled to impress along with many other players in a lackluster team display that showed United — last a Premier League champion in 2013 under Alex Ferguson — still has far to go to recapture its former glories and is unlikely to challenge for the title, at least on this evidence anyway.
“One game doesn’t change the direction of everything,” Carrick said. "It doesn’t change the direction of the football club.”
Across Europe, only Chelsea has spent more on new players than Tottenham this summer but it didn't show at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium.
Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali, who joined for a club-record $133 million from Newcastle, was among the new signings in a Spurs team that was completely outplayed by a settled Brentford lineup, which was two goals ahead by the 33rd thanks to close-range strikes by Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt.
Michael Kayode slid in to add a third just after the break and Igor Thiago, Brentford's top scorer last season, missed a chance to pad the scoreline by hitting the post with a penalty.
Everton had a famous fan in its stadium watching a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace.
Andy Burnham took in his first Everton match since becoming Britain's prime minister last month and saw Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry score goals for the hosts.
Everton manager David Moyes said he spoke to Burnham, a season ticket-holder at the club, on the phone after the match.
Ismaila Sarr, linked with a move away from Palace, wasn't in the matchday squad for Pierre Sage's first game in charge of the team, though the manager said the Senegal forward's absence was injury-related. Palace lost Morocco defender Chadi Riad to what appeared to be a serious knee injury that forced him to be carried off on a stretcher in the second half.
Ipswich was another promoted team to win in the opening round of games, scoring in the 90th minute through Jack Clarke to beat his former club Sunderland 2-1.
Leeds also scored a late winner, with Anton Stach's 88th-minute free kick enough to dispatch Nottingham Forest 1-0.
Arsenal began its title defense by beating Coventry, the second-tier champion last season, 3-0 on Friday.
On Sunday, Manchester City — demolished 3-0 by Arsenal in the Community Shield last weekend — looks to bounce back against Bournemouth and Liverpool travels to Newcastle.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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