Sir Alex Ferguson insists there will be no repeat of last
season's Champions League nightmare this term.
Six group games against Villarreal, Benfica and Lille yielded just
one win, three goals and six points as United finished bottom of
what had seemed an easily navigable group.
But with that experience to draw on, plus the absence of injuries
to key players, Sir Alex is confident of setting the record
straight this season.
"Look back at last year," he said. "We got off to a good start with
a draw at Villarreal with 10 men and we thought: 'that's us
off'.
"But we didn't score enough goals. We never scored against Lille or
Villarreal, that's four games we didn't score in. It'll be
different this year, I assure you."
Sir Alex admits he was shocked by United's woeful six-game return,
but cites the absence of vital experienced players as a major
factor in his side's early exit.
"I would never have believed it," he said. "In fairness to them, we
lacked experience at the vital times.
"We had six experienced players missing in the early part of the
season. Roy, Gary, Wes Brown, Gaby, Saha and Fortune were all
missing and it's not easy in that situation."
Despite the heartbreak of crashing out in embarrassing fashion and
even failing to qualify for the UEFA Cup, Sir Alex reckons his side
will learn from the experience.
"Nobody likes bad memories," he said. "But in football terms, good
footballers don't want that to happen again and aim to improve on
it. They should want that, particularly the younger players.
"We've got experienced players like Ryan, Rio, Gary, and Scholesy.
Gaby Heinze, when he comes back, will be a fantastic asset and I
think he'll be absolutely brilliant for us.
"There's goals there alright. I think we're helped this year by
Rooney and Ronaldo getting older. There's no question about Saha.
The key is him staying fit but his goals per game ratio is very
good."
United begin their Champions League campaign on Wednesday against
Celtic, and the Boss wants the Reds to approach the game in the
same way as they did their double-header clash with Rangers three
seasons ago.
"I have to get rid of the Celtic-United, Scotland-England thing,"
he said. "If we go down that road, it'll make it harder for
ourselves. We did it well against Rangers. We forgot the issues
surrounding the Scotland-England thing, me playing for Rangers and
it's the same for Celtic.
"I'm going to rely on the quality and experience we've got in
European games, particularly at Old Trafford."
In a group which also contains Benfica and FC Copenhagen, Sir Alex
feels Celtic have a genuine chance of reaching the knockout stages
of the competition.
"Celtic have got fantastic resources for a challenge," he said.
"Only three years back they got to the UEFA Cup final and beat
Liverpool and Blackburn on the way. It was a phenomenal
performance.
"They thoroughly deserved to beat those two teams and you can't
underestimate when teams have got resources and a bit of history
behind them.
"They've got a chance of qualifying, no doubt about that. They've
got a great support, history behind them and they know it can be
done."
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