Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag felt less stressed after their 2-0 win at League One Wigan in the FA Cup third round on Monday. 

United’s first away win since November came thanks to a goal from Diogo Dalot in the first half and a controversial penalty from Bruno Fernandes.

The Red Devils were also given a good fourth round matchup against either non-league Eastleigh or League Two’s Newport County on Monday.

United’s last chance to win a trophy this season is in this competition. It could save Ten Hag’s job, since his team is having a tough time in the Premier League and has already been kicked out of Europe.

“To win the FA Cup, you have to get past the knockout stages.” Ten Hag said, “You want to finish the job.” “That’s what I told them in the locker room: ‘job done.'”

At the DW Stadium, the guests were rarely tested, but Thelo Aasgaard’s early shot put Andre Onana to the test. Onana had stayed behind for two more United games before leaving for Cameroon’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

United slowly took over. Marcus Rashford was denied by a great save from Sam Tickle, and Scott McTominay’s shot went just wide.

In the past few weeks, Rashford has shown signs of getting back to his old self, and it was his pass that set up Dalot’s goal in the 22nd minute.

Rasmus Hojlund hit a header off the crossbar, and Alejandro Garnacho’s shaky effort also hit the post. Both chances meant that United should have won the game by halftime.

“I think we had five or six great chances in the first half.” “I thought it was great football,” Ten Hag said.

“We should have taken more shots, but I think we stayed focused tonight even though we didn’t score.”

When the second goal finally came 16 minutes from the end, Wigan felt bad because Fernandes scored even though Liam Shaw barely touched him.

After giving the home team a penalty, Fernandes made things worse by kicking it away with ease, ending any hopes of a big killing.

Next, United will try to keep the good mood going into their two-week Premier League winter break when Tottenham comes to Old Trafford on Sunday.

Ten Hag’s team needs to win badly to close the nine-point gap on the top four teams if they want to keep their hopes of going back to the Champions League next season.

Additionally, the Dutch coach thinks that the club has a new sense of hope since British millionaire Jim Ratcliffe bought a 25% stake in the company.

“It gives me hope.” Everyone is feeling good. Ten Hag said, “There’s a lot of work to do.”

“It’s a journey, a project, and we’ve come across some problems so far. But we will stay alive, get through it, and fight back.”