Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw has said that January's 6-0 win at Tranmere Rovers was the turning point in his side's 2019-20 campaign.
United had lost two consecutive matches heading into the FA Cup fourth-round tie, falling to Liverpool and Burnley by 2-0 scorelines.
But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men had no trouble with their League Two opponents, with Harry Maguire, Diogo Dalot, Jesse Lingard, Phil Jones, and Anthony Martial giving the visitors a 5-0 lead by half-time.
United have not lost a game since that win at Tranmere, going 11 matches unbeaten before the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to football in the UK.
Shaw has said that his side got a necessary boost of confidence following their lopsided win.
“It was a very professional performance and attitude,” Shaw told Manchester United's official website.
“I think that gave everyone a confidence boost because, after that, if I'm not mistaken, we've gone on a really good run since that win. So that game was our stepping stone to improve as a team, and to keep a really good record going.”
“It was a very positive changing room, a happy one, because we had come off the back of not very good results," Shaw continued.
“But I think it was even more important because we had a massive game against Man City coming up, so it was good in two ways really: the result and clean sheet, and obviously that we got to rest some players, like Jamo (Daniel James), who'd played a lot of football."
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Following the win at Tranmere, United would defeat Manchester City 1-0 in the Carabao Cup second leg, falling 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final. United would also go on to defeat their cross-town rivals 2-0 in Premier League action in March.
Shaw admitted that the stop in action came at a bad time for his surging side, but emphasized that there are currently more important things than football.
“I think that's what is most disappointing, the fact that we were in such good momentum, that it had to come to a stop,” Shaw said.
“But hopefully things turn into a positive way in the meantime and obviously [everyone should] keep to the guidelines and the instructions of staying inside."