Sir Alex Ferguson said he had an "uncomfortable" Christmas after two damaging defeats but he is in the right mood to celebrate his 68th birthday, and the new year, after Manchester United hit top form to demolish Wigan 5-0 and move up to within two points of Chelsea, the Premier League leaders.
The United manager believes his team are well placed to go on the sort of run which burned off all opposition after Christmas last season. They won 11 league games in succession then, to overhaul Chelsea and Liverpool, and are looking to do the same to retain their title.
Ferguson said: "I think the players realised there were goals there to be scored tonight and they took their chance. That was good because, who knows, goal difference could be important at the end of the season."
To Wigan's chagrin, the architect of their demoralising defeat was Antonio Valencia, the Ecuador winger they sold to United for £16m during the summer. Valencia, signed to replace Cristiano Ronaldo, unhinged his old team's defence time and again, setting up three goals before scoring the fifth himself, and Ferguson said: "The really important thing for us is that Antonio scored another goal [his sixth of the season]. That was key for him. He'll get a lot more."
After praising Valencia and describing the form of Wayne Rooney, who scored his 14th goal in 19 league games, as "absolutely fantastic", Ferguson added that he preferred not to single out individuals on this occasion. "The whole team played well", he explained. "They all need to play their part, and at the moment they are certainly doing that. It was marvellous stuff tonight.
"Defeats against Aston Villa and Fulham gave us an uncomfortable Christmas, and five defeats in the first half of the season is already one more than we had in the whole of last season. That's a concern, but the way the league is going it's not fatal. I just hope that we haven't damaged ourselves too much.
"There have been a few shock results this season that hopefully might mean the title is taken with fewer points than usual."
Rooney, enjoying what the England striker regards as his best season, expects at least eight more goals, which would eclipse the 23 he scored in all competitions in 2006-07. "If I don't do that, there will be something seriously wrong," he said.
The manager said he intended to pick a "very different" team for Sunday's FA Cup tie at home to Leeds United. "There will be a chance for a couple of the younger players, and we also have Gary Neville available. Johnny Evans is back in training and Rio Ferdinand has started and is running well. He's not that far away."
Match report, page 2
