Manchester United earned an important 3-0 victory over Shrewsbury Town on Monday night to progress to the FA Cup quarter-finals.
The result, which ended a run of two consecutive defeats, means United will play at home to West Ham United in the next round.
The comfortable win could relieve some of the pressure from the United manager Louis van Gaal, with his side encountering no problems en route to this victory.
After a much-needed win, let’s look at four things we learned from the match:
New set piece routine?
After Chris Smalling’s opening goal, United doubled their lead in this game just before half time through a well struck free kick from Juan Mata.
The set piece seemed controversial though, with three United players lining up in a second wall as the kick was being taken, and replays showed that the trio appeared to be in an offside position as Mata struck the ball.
However, Louis van Gaal explained after the game that United had learned this from their game with Midtjylland on Thursday, where officials had then explained that this was not against the rules.
The Reds pulled off the new routine at the first time of asking, and it may be a set piece which will be replicated in upcoming matches.
Limited options in attack
The one negative aspect of this match had nothing to do with performance, but the addition of two new injuries to further deplete the first team squad.
Whilst Cameron Borthwick-Jackson was removed through injury at half time, Will Keane’s premature departure from the match may be of greater concern to United right now.
Keane, who replaced Anthony Martial on 71 minutes, was forced off just five minutes afterwards, causing United to finish the game with ten men.
That leaves the Reds with Anthony Martial as their only available first team striker, which could cause United problems with a congested schedule ahead.
Impressive Joe Riley
Joe Riley (left) replaced Borthwick-Jackson for his United debut at half time and impressed on the left flank.
The versatile youngster usually plays in a more advanced role but still did well at left-back, whilst still managing to showcase his qualities going forward.
The young wide man made one surging run forward which saw him cut inside dangerously, although he did shoot well wide. Perhaps that’s something for him to work on.
Regardless, it was good to see another player come through the academy, especially one showing such a fearless attitude on his senior debut.
Defence untroubled
It was a welcome sight to see United win this match, but the lack of chances for Shrewsbury will have put Louis van Gaal even further at ease.
Granted, Shrewsbury are massively inferior opposition for United, but the away team controlled the match to such an extent that their opponents didn’t manage a shot until late in the second half.
Whilst United would expect to win in comfortable fashion against League One opposition, it’s still a relief to see the Reds actually do exactly that, especially having failed to keep a clean sheet in the previous four away games.