January is one of the year’s less charming months. The Christmas hilarity is long gone and the Easter break seems a million miles away. The return to work this year has been particularly painful for some of us and, despite the fact that we’ve had so much decent sport to watch, the month ends on a pretty big downer.

Manchester United's capacity for drama is certainly not on the wane. Not every heavily hyped contest lives up to the billing, but this Manchester derby was quite possibly the game that had everything. Even in victory over our bitter rivals, even just three points off the top of the league, United are still yet to convince.

Rarely has the rest of the league been so obliging in making up for our shortfalls. Despite our disgraceful performance at Old Trafford on New Year’s Eve it would appear that we are not the only club in the division whose players may have enjoyed a few too many mulled wines over the last week.

The spirit of generosity is alive and well this Christmas time and the presents under United’s tree have been particularly lovely this holidays. If it hasn’t been our rivals dropping points, it has been a kind fixture list or a card happy ref. Truly 'tis the season to be jolly.

There are many fond memories for me at Loftus Road. I was fortunate enough to be there for wonder goals from both Cantona and Giggs and once sat in front of George Best at the ground. This weekend, Michael Carrick of all people added his name to an illustrious list.

We are all in the business of writing our own destinies and this last week saw Manchester United’s young team pen a mixed and rather painful chapter. Our club is not defined by the crowing of jealous opposing fans, nor by the excellence of our expensively assembled opponents, but by how we overcome hardship and turn setbacks into experience. The week has ended on a high note, and I for one choose to take that as a cue for optimism.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell exactly what is governing our emotional responses. All I can tell you at the moment is that I am not overjoyed with what I am seeing from United. Whether this is because the current side is poor, is playing poorly or simply a wider malaise in society is at work I am not sure. Either way, things ain’t right.

We football fans are a notoriously fickle bunch. Either we are not happy because of the quality of the show or perhaps the fortitude of the results irk us. Either way, it’s certainly a mixed bag with United at the moment.

In general, writers like things called ‘themes’ that they can hang their articles around. Therefore, if there is anything mildly unusual or different about a story, for example one of the teams in an English league match being Welsh, then you can expect the scribe to bang on about it for ages.

As the dust settles on the anniversary of Sir Alex Ferguson’s arrival at the club we are still a quarter of the way through an active football season and in the thick of the battle.

If you had offered us 26 points from that opening run of fixtures many of us would have taken it. Although we have managed to put Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham to the sword the performance against City was such an abomination that nothing can be taken for granted.