The RAF’s John Flynn deserves grateful thanks for what he does in his day job as he has served in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
But the armed forces hero was a villain at Old Trafford as far as United were concerned as he gave the penalty that should never have been to help Newcastle secure a point.
However, the Reds faithful could head home knowing that at least the man who directs United’s warheads on the pitch appears to have his men almost back in full working order. Sir Alex Ferguson has been tactically safe in his approach since his forces were obliterated by City in the derby.
The riposte has been a slow but successful process that has seen the champions swop merciless for mean in a bid to win points and confidence.
The repair job has been at the expense of the sort of attacking flair and entertainment Reds fans have been accustomed to over the years.
But it was full on value for money again against the Toon.
Disappointingly, flight sergeant Flynn’s sortie could well get a mention again come May if the Reds miss out on retaining their title by two points. But it would be a bit harsh if he was held to account considering the amount of chances the Reds blew in the second half.
They had almost half an hour to rectify Flynn’s blunder and the last 10 of them were against a Newcastle side which had been reduced to 10 men following the sending off of Jonas Gutierrez for a second yellow card.
A point to add to the title bid is not ideal, but the manner in which United performed against an impressive Newcastle side bodes well for a return to the deadly swagger of early season.
If Flynn had directed as many hits on to enemy targets as the Reds did on the Geordies, he’d have been expecting a destructive mission accomplished.
But Alan Pardew’s surprise package hunkered down at Old Trafford, enjoyed a touch of good fortune and also replied with some dangerous return fire themselves.
On another day, Newcastle could well have gone the same way as Arsenal did when they shipped eight as they visited Old Trafford in August.
Praise
Fergie has been full of praise for Pardew’s efforts on Tyneside but he wasn’t so impressed with his assessment of the first half that the Magpie’s boss claimed they won.
It was more like a shared half with David de Gea being employed about as much as Tim Krul at the other end.
It was the Dutchman who could claim the best save of the opening period.
Ryan Giggs, who added subtle quality to United’s midfield, diverted Fabio’s cross with a cute flick in the 31st minute.
Krul looked beaten, but his right arm extended out late to deny Giggs – who turns 38 tomorrow – an early birthday present. It had been good to watch in the first half but the fare became even better.
United might bemoan their luck over the penalty incident but they couldn’t complain that good fortune wasn’t with them when they took the lead in the 49th minute.
Wayne Rooney smashed in a rebound off his own free-kick and Steven Taylor lashed his clearance into the belly of the unsuspecting Javier Hernandez and it spun off into the net.
Newcastle responded like Benfica and Basel before them and, but for a breathtaking save by De Gea from Coloccini’s close-range smash, would have been back in the game before the controversial 64th-minute penalty incident.
The Stretford End were still savouring the Spaniard’s astonishing reflex stop when Hatem Ben Arfa swept beyond Giggs and Michael Carrick forcing Rio Ferdinand to turn on the after-burners and slide in to cleanly take the ball away.
It was a great tackle which suggested the former England captain was maybe returning to his best form after an uncertain recent spell. But airman Flynn had other ideas and flagged, believing Ferdinand had got the man first.
No amount of arguing or debate with referee Mike Jones – who initially awarded a corner – from the Reds could persuade him to change his mind.
Demba Ba coolly grabbed the lifeline and then when Gutierrez was dismissed, it was full steam ahead rampant Reds, although they couldn't make the breakthrough.
If United continue in this mood then not even Flynn clones will stop them piling on the points in the future.
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Dearest Pardew,
You are welcome.
Love,
Poor eyesight.
Bad time for United.. Title is in manchester city Hand.
Unlucky. We played some good football. Liked Fabio inparticular and good to see Giggs still has it in him.
Only criticisms. Why wasn't Welbeck on the bench instead of Mecheda and why wait so late on to make a sub. Also i'm starting to wonder what Ashley Youngs all about. He started the season well but now he doesn't seem to know what to do with the dribbling skills he has. A few good crosses though.
Overall we were just unlucky today but I was happy with our performance
looks like its goodbye to the league title,and the manager says he cant find any players to improve this rubbish! now can you please t&c,alias,red indian and any other moron tell me fergie still knows what he is doing?
Not a bad Point against 10 Men !!!!!!!!.
We will win nothing this year!
We will win nothing this year!!
Strange game.
A much better team performance I suppose but we need big improvements with our finishing. That crazy penalty would not have happened had we not started to sit back and protect out lead……..something that never happened a couple of seasons ago.
But some positives: Carrick had yet another good game and Nani was completely unselfish. Now if only we can get Fabio to grow up………………..
Video technology NOW, PLEASE!!
2 lost points today can cost us in May.
BUT, we "lost" a game we deserved to win. We look more like our good old selves. Keep playing with this determination and we will win many games the next months.
Should of finished them off.but a bit unlucky....the penalty was a joke, tv shows it was a great tackle by Ferdinand. Bad game for ref from start to finish but we still should of been able to grab a goal at the end..cant just blame the ref
Robbed... Just completely and utterly robbed.
The Hernandez goal at 93 mins was onside and that was never in a million years a penalty on Ben Arfa the linesmen at both ends cost us the game.
The last 20 minutes I don't know how Newcastle survived 3 world class saves from Krul, we hit the post and a goal line clearance it was just unbelievably unlucky today just so so unlucky, deserved all 3 points we did.
Macheda on the bench was just painful where was Berbatov? He might have scored that open header from 5 yards that Macheda sent flying over the bar.
STUPID OFFICIALS!
Nasty result but sure was fun to watch.
Ouch...I just got hit by a piece of falling sky...not.
Let's hope we get a favour from Liverpool tomorrow..
enjoy your dayeveryone and...stay calm...
r7
Can`t believe what I`ve just watched .
Gonna be a very long day in the Riley household only 6am . . . . tele survived just , walls didnt do so well .
Rilo
Exiled Droylsden Red
Evra got turned around by a United castoff (Obertan); Young should watch and learn from Giggs on how to cross (i.e. on a plate for Obertan); Carrick plays a couple of good games and goes off on one of his usual waylaid passes again; Fabio needs to understand when to foul (when the clock is ticking 3 minutes to the end, no more players from South America in the future!!); Ferdinand has forgotten how to mark his opponents (i.e. free header for Colocini) and Rooney shouldn't be on the field if he isn't fit!
P.S. No wonder there is talk that Pogba might leave as Fergie keeps on playing his usual old boys i.e. Ferdinand, Evra, Carrick. Where is Pogba, where is Morrison, where are the so-called great kids!!
when will saf tumble to the fact that this is a young mans game young not a good buy carrick bad passes all day rooney did nothing we badly need midfielders saf its not your money get sneider before its to late jones and smalling should be in every game
rio is past his best if moves are not made now there will be no hardware at old trafford this season ktd canada 26/11/2011
First off... why wait til the 94th minute to bring on Smalling?!???! AND WHY NOT DRESS JONES???? The bench was a nightmare, Gibson, Evans, Macheda, Park...
How many chances can we waste? Used to be that mistakes like Newcastle made today would be punished. Now, we can barely hit the target. Young, Nani, wasteful and frustrating.
It's sad when the best thing that happened to United this week, is that Ando is out until February.
we need to buy again if we are to compete with the big teams again.if we were under plc we would have competed for the likes of silva,aguero and mata,but because we dont want to pay top wages or transfer fees we rather look for someone like bebe or some rubbish like wolfswinkel.
im not even asking to buy the likes of ronaldo,messi,villa or any other players at their peek, all im asking is why cant we even compete for the likes of gotze,hazard,martinez,m,vila,pastore or sanchez?
Football is such a cruel game sometimes. We bossed them in the second half. Pathetic refereeing. Never a penalty. Both him and his assistant deserve to be dropped for that shocker.
Hit the bar once, cleared off the line once, fantastic point blank saves from Tim Krul...we did everything we could. Just wasn't our day I guess.
We were really poor in the first half. The tempo wasn't there, we were erratic to say the least. However, we had a fantastic second half. There's nothing more to do than accept the result. Refereeing decisions even themselves out over the course of the season. We just have to hope that this happens. That, and the referee and his assistant must never officiate another premier league game. You don't want refereeing decisions to decide the course of the game and that's what happened today.
Newcastle, to their credit, played really well. They stuck it out and showed character when we were toying with them. Tim Krul was my MoM.
Performance wise, I thought our best players were Vidic, Evra, Carrick and Giggs. Giggs come up with some wonderful balls in the second half. Young, I thought was very poor. Made the wrong calls all afternoon;had loads of space a number of times, but was obsessed with beating his man. No doubt Sir Alex would be giving him the hairdryer right now. Hernandez had a poor first half. But much like the team, played really well in the second. Fabio, another rash game from him. He and his brother are very raw. They need to improve on their composure. Understandable, at their age, one would argue.
We'll need to pick ourselves up in the next game. We can't afford to draw too many games at a time when City are heading into a run of difficult fixtures. Trust the boys to come back strongly. Would implore the supporters to keep calm and support the team, but that's a lost cause isn't it? What with the band of moaners and their "expert" analyses. You know what, maybe Sir Alex should resign and let one of them take over. I'm sure we'll be so magnificent that we'll win each game 10-0 and win all competitions till eternity. After all, if they can do it in Football Manager, surely they can do it in the real thing.
We need a left footed winger to take Giggsy's place. We have yet to get a Scholes replacement though Cleverley is good.
That one lucky goal was not enough.
Rio's tackle was as clean as I have ever seen. Humbug refereeing.
Full marks to a great game from Carrick. Where were you all these days,Michael?
Rooney missed many chances and as usual tall defenders always give him a problem. Reminds me of the first match two years back which we drew against the Tynesiders.
Posession: United 60 % Newcastle 40 %
Shots: U 29 N 8
Corners U 11 N 3
but...
Shots ON TARGET:
United 7 Newcastle 5
It's obvious where we need to work.
Young, Nani, Hernandez all blasted good chances away from goal today.
Never was a penalty. The standard of officiating in the PL is very poor and as a consequence the FA needs to bring in technology sooner rather than later to assist those in charge of games.
Bill in USA
We will win nothing this season with these players!!
Despite the awfulness of the ref and the linesman (neither of whom should be allowed to officiate again this season) there were some encouraging signs here. Young continues to under perform but we did at least look more threatening and a goal was always a possibility. If they hadn't had so much good luck, and an inspired goalkeeping performance, we'd have had the 3 points. Those lost 2 points could however be very significant come May............
Gordon
Manchester Utd can forget the 20th championship. They played well and had about 10 good scoring chances, but couldn't score a decent goal. Rooney has totally lost his scoring ability, he didn't even try to score anymore. Hernandez had 2-3 excellent opportunities, but missed. Rio's challenge was very good and should have not been a penalty. But still ManUtd had lot's of chances and should have won. Carrick was very good again. But our forwardline is not. Fabio had a one-on-one again and missed again. Where was Berbatov? Is Fergie tinkering again?