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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