In the fifth round of the FA Cup, Manchester United faced off against League One competitor (tier 3 in English Football) Shrewsbury Town. Many supporters considered this manager Louis Van Gaal’s most important match of his career, after coming off a loss against Midtjylland in the Europa League. Van Gaal has been in the hot seat the whole season, and a poor performance against Shrewsbury could have easily gotten him sacked.

However, this was not the case. Manchester United dominated Shrewsbury Town in all aspects of the game. Throughout the game United only allowed Shrewsbury three shots, none of which were on goal. United shot 26 times, and three of them were for goals. These goals were scored by defensemen Chris Smalling and midfielders Juan Mata Garcia and Jesse Lingard. United also dominated possession throughout the game, holding the ball 75% of the time.

Final: Manchester 3 – Shrewsbury 0