United's title built on mental strength

Ferguson's team rewarded for square-jawed defiance after Dutch striker's hat-trick puts Beckham's celebrity game in the shade

Two seasons ago, when Manchester United walked away with the championship, it was suggested in jest that they be handicapped. Perhaps they should have to play without a goalkeeper, with their legs tied together, or giving the opposition a two-goal start.

Unlike Formula One, the Premiership does not believe in penalising excellence so none of these proposals were adopted. But if they had, Sir Alex Ferguson would doubtless have raged at the injustice of it, blamed a conspiracy, then set about overcoming the handicap with relish.

It is the challenge that motivates the United manager and, through him, his team. Ferguson has said winning this championship, the club's eighth in 11 years, would mean more than any since his first, dam-breaking, success of 1993. The reason is the scale of the task. United were written off in November after surrendering in the Manchester derby. They were dismissed again when eight points adrift of Arsenal in March. Their response has been a square-jawed defiance which has seen them take 25 points from the last 27, the only blemish being the stalemate at Highbury, a draw as valuable as any of their 24 victories.

While United have been excellent in patches they have not been at their best this season, nor have they played the most scintillating football. Arsenal have, primarily in the autumn but on other occasions too. But United have had the superior mental strength.

The difference was highlighted in Arsenal's recent draw at Bolton. It is not just that United, if they were two up with 20 minutes to play, would have crushed their opponents rather than risk allowing them back into the game. It is that United would not have let their shoulders droop after Bolton drew level. For United the sight of the fourth official indicating six minutes of injury time would have been the signal for an all-out assault on Jussi Jaaskelainen's goal. They had done just that in midweek against Real Madrid. Though never really in the game they had refused to give up. Arsenal did.

It is not just about team spirit and mental tenacity: if it was, West Bromwich Albion would not have been relegated. United also have a depth of quality their challengers lacked. Both they and Arsenal have suffered from injuries and a loss of form in key players. Three-quarters of United's anticipated spine has been fallible: Fabien Barthez, Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane. Another stalwart of previous campaigns, Gary Neville, only started 19 matches (one more than Keane). Ryan Giggs was jeered by his own fans early in the season (though not the ones who travel away), and David Beckham has at times seemed distracted. Yet while players like Pascal Cygan, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Sylvain Wiltord have been found wanting at Highbury John O'Shea, Phil Neville and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have risen to the challenge at Old Trafford while even fringe players such as Quinton Fortune have made telling contributions.

Ferguson has also benefited from his players' adaptability. Unlike Arsenal he has defenders like O'Shea, Mikaël Silvestre and Wes Brown who can play wide and central. Further forward, Solskjaer, Giggs and Paul Scholes have shown similar versatility. Wenger makes much of United's superior buying power but five of the last eight players mentioned were home-grown and the others cost £7m between them.

But if it has been a squad effort (should Roy Carroll play at Everton 18 players will have made the 10 appearances required for a championship medal) one man has stood out. Unlike Ferguson's other high-priced acquisitions Ruud van Nistelrooy has made his fee seem a steal, even at £19m. Last season, drained after his long lay-off, he faded in the closing months, this time he has grown in strength. In United's last nine matches he has scored 13 goals becoming only the second player in the club's history, after Denis Law, to top 40 goals in a season. It is not just the goals either, with Keane fading he has become the soul of the team, driving them forward from the front in a manner perhaps only Alan Shearer can match.

If there is an element of fortune in United's championship it is in Van Nistelrooy's continued fitness. All season the squad has looked a striker light with a shortage of cover for Van Nistelrooy's line-leading skills as well as his goals. Last season United scored 87 Premiership goals, this year they have registered 72 yet Van Nistelrooy has already surpassed last season's 23. The Dutchman was also the only player to emerge with credit from both legs of the Real Madrid tie.

The memory of that contest is likely to prey on Ferguson's mind more than any other as he plans for next season. Such was the hype surrounding the goal-laden Old Trafford return most observers missed the reality that United were always two goals short of victory. Whenever they threatened to close the gap Real simply scored again.

Thus, despite this latest title, a summer of rebuilding is being considered. Having failed to reach Champions' League finals in his home town and his adopted one, Ferguson's sights are set on the less evocative location of Gelsenkirchen and the AufSchalke Arena, the venue for next season's final. A new goalkeeper and another striker are sure to come in, other recruits will depend on who leaves. While Ferguson will take great satisfaction from rebutting Arsène Wenger's claim that the Premiership's balance of power had moved south he will not rest on this success. He never has.