Shrewsbury Win Will Not Ease the Pressure on Louis van Gaal at Manchester United

Manchester United beat Shrewsbury Town on Monday evening in the FA Cup fifth round, but any easing of pressure on Louis van Gaal is likely to be temporary.

The atmosphere turned even more toxic following Thursday's UEFA Europa League first-leg loss to FC Midtjylland, with the travelling supporters bitterly criticising the team. The away support was in a much better mood in Shrewsbury—understandable given the fare on show was considerably improved over the performance in Denmark.

There were a few meaningful reasons to be cheerful for United. Jesse Lingard added to his recent run of goalscoring form; Joe Riley was given his debut as a half-time replacement for the still-impressive Cameron Borthwick-Jackson; Guillermo Varela looked assured a right-back once again .

United managed to entirely dominate the game, keeping the ball for 69.9 per cent of the time, despite playing the last quarter of an hour of the game with 10 men after Will Keane—United's third substitute—pulled up injured. They had 26 shots to Shrewsbury's three, in what essentially became a procession following Chris Smalling's opening goal. 

Andreas Pereira provided a lively cameo performance once he came on as a sub, providing two key passes. Juan Mata shone, scoring a beautiful free-kick and providing eight key passes.

But, apart from the personal experience for the players involved, none of it means very much. Of course, the prize of victory was progression in the FA Cup—United face West Ham United at Old Trafford next.

Van Gaal told BBC Sport: "I was very pleased. We have played 70 minutes fantastic, in a professional way, creating chances and scoring goals. After 70 we were with 10 [men] and it was more difficult."

However, victory and an impressive performance against the team in 21st place in League One will not relieve much of the pressure on the manager. As Rob Dawson of the Manchester Evening News pointed out, it was something of a no-win game for him given the level of opponent.

What comes next is a much greater test. Midtjylland come to Old Trafford for the second leg of the tie on Thursday. Failure to progress there will heap the pressure back on. As with the win over Shrewsbury, though, victory is the minimum acceptable result, and it would take a very impressive performance to swing much of the tide of popular opinion.

So, a loss will be extremely damaging, and a win not particularly notable.

After that comes Arsenal at home in the league. If United have any pretensions to UEFA Champions League qualification via a fourth-place finish, this is something of a must-win game.

Arsenal are also the team to whom Van Gaal's side have lost by the widest margin this season. The 3-0 defeat at the Emirates could justly be called a humiliation, so abject was United's first 45 minutes in that game.

The two subsequent league games are—in theory—an easier test: Watford at home and West Bromwich Albion away. However, Van Gaal's tenure has been practically defined by United's failures against teams they would expect to beat. It has also been defined by inconsistency.

Given that the feelings of antipathy towards him and the football he has United playing have reached such a peak among supporters, as soon as any good run of results ends, the pressure will be right back to where it was.

Whatever happens between now and the end of the season—barring a truly spectacular run of form that would be completely out of character with what has gone before—many, many fans will want a new manager brought in.

The victory over Shrewsbury, then, while enjoyable enough, is unlikely to have much in the way of a lasting bearing on Van Gaal or United. The real tests are to come, and some have already been, and his United have generally failed them.

All advanced statistics per WhoScored.com.