Manchester United put three past their opponents on Monday night. Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard were among the goalscorers, and the team put on the rare exhibition of attacking verve under Louis van Gaal.
They cruised into the FA Cup quarter-finals so comfortably young talents like Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Andreas Pereira, Will Keane and Joe Riley were given significant match time as second-half subs.
It was just about an ideal display for Van Gaal’s charges, a much-needed glimpse of the positive.
The catch? It came against League One side Shrewsbury Town.
United’s 3-0 FA Cup fifth roundwin , to book a home date with West Ham United, will cast in that light do little to ease the pressure off Van Gaal. A classic scenario of a win representing little, while a loss would have represented quite a lot.
Van Gaal, however, does not see things the same way.
Read more: Richie Wellens interview – Onetime Manchester United hope talks Alex Ferguson and almost making it
Defeat would have been a hammer blow to Van Gaal and he accepts they were expected to win in Shropshire, but he argued, in effect, a win is a win:
“Everybody shall say it is against Shrewsbury Town and Manchester United has to win but we have seen very difficult results in the FA Cup,” Van Gaal said. “Not always the top team is winning.
“So I think we have done it fantastically.”
Van Gaal also revealed David De Gea could return this week to ease Manchester United’s injury crisis after their routine win.
De Gea suffered a knee injury in the warm up ahead of United’s 2-1 Europa League defeat to FC Midtjylland but Van Gaal hopes to have him back for the return tie on Thursday, or for Sunday’s visit of Arsenal.
“It was not so heavy the injury, so it is possible for Thursday but it is also possible against Arsenal,” he said.
“It (the Midtjylland match) in my opinion is a big game because it’s a chance to qualify for the Champions League next season. But we have to win a lot of matches of course, it’s easily spoken about but doing it is different.
“But it is possible and then we’ll see. I think in March a lot of players are coming back and then we’ll have a full selection, and with our full selection we were first in the Premier League.”
Chris Smalling opened the scoring for Mata and Lingard to supplement as Van Gaal picked a squad without 13 first-team players.
Wayne Rooney is sidelined for six weeks with a knee injury while Bastian Schweinsteiger, Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo remain out. Borthwick-Jackson also limped off in Shropshire.
Shrewsbury came close at the end but Abu Ogogo wasted two fine openings while they struggled to match United.
They face a relegation battle in League One and go to rivals Colchester on Saturday, but coach Micky Mellon was proud of his side.
“At half-time we were a wee bit disappointed but it’s hard to be critical because you’re playing against some unbelievable quality,” he said.
“I’m not going to take anything away from my players, you have to put your hand up and say they were outrageous at times. That’s what that kind of money buys you.”
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
