Red alert as Man United look future perfect

The balance of power appears firmly back in Manchester, and it seems unlikely to shift from there in the near future. The signs are ominous for the rest of the Premiership: United will get better and hungrier.

Better, because Ferguson — scared, surely, by the prospect of ending up trophyless for the second consecutive season — seems to have changed his style of management a bit: where once he saw his mistakes through with bull-headed obstinacy, he is now actually willing to change horses mid-stream, as his sidelining of Laurent Blanc will testify.

His hand forced by a crippling spate of early-season injuries, he took risks and tried out new things by shuffling his pack around. So Solskjaer found a new role on the right flank — and proved that there could be life after Beckham.

Better, because the players have been to hell and back and come out the better for it. If they could win this season, they know they can win under any circumstance. And they have Ferguson to bring them down to earth.

Better, because this is a team in every sense of the word; when Roy Keane is missing, the unlikely Phil Neville steps up to boss the midfield. When Van Nistelrooy lacks a strike partner, Paul Scholes delivers 20 goals from midfield. And when his team needs him, Keane shuts out his pain and plays as he always had.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are staring down two loaded barrels. They are caught in a terrible vicious cycle of poor finances. They don’t have the money to buy, yet without buying they risk losing what they have — Robert Pires has already indicated his reluctance to stay on if Arsenal don’t buy big.

What they don’t have is a team; a collection of fine players, yes, but not a team. Pires’s statement, for example, came when his teammates were struggling to keep united at bay. And who, apart from the amazing Henry, was ready to stand up and be counted in the absence of captain Patrick Vieira?

Wenger’s one-point answer, by way of absolution for having blown the title race, was to point to the vast war-chest at Ferguson’s disposal. It is true that Manchester United have far more resources at their command than their closest challengers put together, and it is true that Ferguson’s two biggest buys — Ferdinand and Veron — haven’t clicked yet it remains little more than an excuse.

If Wenger really wishes to shift the balance of power, he should look at how United did it. Ferguson’s first big buys were in 1998, by which time they’d won four league titles and two Doubles. He built his success on a mix of experience — the team of 1994, which many rate to be his best — and the youth teams of 1992 and 1995 (Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Butt, the Nevilles) that are the core of Manchester United.

And while he did spend 30 million pounds on Rio Ferdinand, United’s star defender this season has been the home-grown John O’Shea.

Wenger, too, has access to youth; the Arsenal youth academy is run by the intelligent Irishman Liam Brady. Yet his use of its alumni is often inexplicable; Jermaine Pennant, thrown into the deep end against Leeds yesterday, could have done far more had he been broken in like O’Shea.

The other challengers — Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle — pose no threat to United, lacking either the finances or the consistency, or even the daring to dream that big.

The future looks like it belongs to Manchester United. Not a good thing for the Premiership, which a few months was deluding itself into believing power would be shared two ways, maybe even three ways or more. There is now only one way: It’s the Old Trafford Way.