The United Spirit comes to the fore

Robin van Persie celebrates scoring their first goal during the Barclays Premier League Match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford.

On this week’s edition of the BBC’s “Football 606″, Ian Wright, or Wrighty as he is affectionately referred to as by the Arsenal faithful for his years of loyal service, brought to light the fact that no team in the Premiership possessed the doggedness and the resilience to pull themselves back from the brink, and to go the distance, like Manchester United do. And boy, oh boy, was he right.

The one mantra that is imbibed in the club’s foundation is simple: Never. Ever. Give. Up.

Written off at the start of the season, the opening eleven games have not been kind to the red half of Manchester. The old Gaffer has left the building after constructing a footballing dynasty in his 26 years of service leaving the new man, David Moyes to practice his trade in the biggest club in the world. And that has not been easy.

A 4-1 thrashing from the local rivals, losing at Anfield, a drastic switch in tactics, a botched transfer window and the phenomenon that is Ashley Young, had convinced pundits and teams that United were a fading force, already slipping into oblivion.

Change the tactics all you like, but cannot take away the resilience that comes naturally to this club.

It was proven yet again on Sunday, when Arsenal came to town. Buoyed by an unbelievable win at the Westfalenstadion, Arsenal came into this game as clear favorites. And why wouldn’t they? Aaron Ramsey has been phenomenal this season. The club record signing, Mesut Ozil has given the entire team a lift , Per Mertersacker and Laurent Koscielny have developed a formidable partnership and they have dispatched teams across England and as well as the continent with aplomb, sitting on top of the Premier League and the so called “Group of Death. The ball was well and truly in their court. This was a tie that they could win and effectively put an end to United’s campaign at this stage of the season.

Unfortunately for them, someone tore up the script.

Old Trafford hasn’t always been one of Arsenal’s favorite hunting grounds, and on Sunday it was once again proven. United are starting to click. Moyes is getting to know his players a lot better and is slowly changing the mentality he possessed at Everton. This is the big stage, where one must learn to rebuild in order to survive.

United were absolutely brilliant in the first half. Wayne Rooney ran the Arsenal midfield and defense ragged. Jones nullified the attacking threat of Ozil and the in-form Ramsey, whilst Vidic who was taken off after a collision with the thigh of De Gea, and Evans squeezed Olivier Giroud into making mistake after mistake, by not allowing him time on the ball. Chris Smalling, being played out of position had his best game in a United shirt and missed a golden opportunity to kill the game in the latter stages of the second half.

But it was and it had to be Robin van Persie who made the telling difference by flicking on a beautiful header from a sumptuous corner from Wayne Rooney and rushed to thank his strike partner, and celebrated furiously infuriating the Arsenal crowd tucked at the away end and leaving the United faithful in raptures. After having endured extremely venomous chants, the Dutchman had every right to express himself the way he did.

But as the second half wore on, Arsenal slowly made their way back in the game. Jack Wilshere came on and made some truly incisive passes. Sagna put in some wonderful crosses into the box, only for the best of them to fall to the one man who didn’t really want to be there, Nicklas Bendtner.

But then again, United held on. They stifled the Arsenal attack in midfield, allowed them to pass the ball in front of them without being too fussed about it. They dug deep and the performance was reminiscent of the day Arsenal arrived at Old Trafford on a run of 49 unbeaten games only to leave with a 2-0 loss and some Pizza toppings on the side.

United were pumped up for the game and they managed to recreate that desire and passion that has seen them go down a path of unprecedented success in the Premier League and it was that emotion that they brought into this game. That was what won the game for them. The desire to win, to show the world that they are still the champions and that they wouldn’t go down without a fight was apparent for the 75,000 at the Theatre of Dreams who were absolutely immense for the whole 90 minutes.

The United juggernaut is slowly awakening and come December, the beast shall be in full voice. Only then, can we gauge it’s true strength.

Until then, write United off at your own peril. You’ve been warned.