Five Reactions From United's Draw Against Newcastle

Manchester United slipped to a completely undeserved 1-1 draw with Newcastle United at Old Trafford, which meant that there were always going to be plenty of reactions from this disappointing result.

Reds were left amazed by penalty decision

1. A lot of people will blame the linesman, John Flynn, for the decision to give the penalty against Rio Ferdinand's clean challenge on Hatem Ben Arfa, but the fact of the matter is the referee, Mike Jones, should have overruled him. The referee had an unobstructed view of the incident. A lot of people will debate that Jones couldn't, or shouldn't, disagree with his linesman who was in a better position, which would've decreased his credibility, but by not getting it right he destroyed both of theirs.

2. Since the Manchester City beat down, a lot of people have openly criticized United for not attacking, but that wasn't the case against Newcastle. The Reds threw everything except the kitchen sink at the Magpies in an attempt to get something from the game, and those same people are saying we are now too careless with the chances - which isn't too far off base. The problem with this criticism is that it's destructive criticism. Yes, they should've converted at least another of their 27 chances, but at least they are now creating them, which is a positive thing.

3. Sir Alex Ferguson has said on a couple of occasions that Manchester United use wingers to be the creative force - and against Newcastle both of them wasted glorious opportunities. Combined, Nani and Ashley Young had around five or six golden chances to get United ahead before the finish line, but each and every time their finishing or final ball went missing - and, consequently, so did that elusive second goal.

4. Javier Hernandez scored another goal, his third goal in four Premier League matches, but the amount of chances he squandered was amazing. He had seven very good chances to score, and only turned one of them into a goal, which for a forward of his quality is not good enough. Allegedly, Hernandez is not a scorer of great goals, but a great goal scorer, so one would think, or hope, that he would score more than just a solitary goal from all of those golden opportunities.

5. With so many injuries and illnesses ravaging the center of the midfield, Michael Carrick has emerged as a very dependable player. Over the last three games, he has either won Man of the Match honors, or competed for it, which a lot of players cannot say the same for United. Even though, he has been playing consistently well and doing his job, Carrick still cannot get a break with the myopic view of some of the fans.