Sir Alex: Defence is key

were 2-0 up and playing well and then got careless in the second half and ended up drawing 3-3. That ended up knocking us out, really. We had to go there [to Basel] and get a result and we ended up chasing our tails. Hopefully our home form, which had been good for many years, will be good again this year."

Team selection will reflect Sir Alex's determination to do much better this season. "In some years, the group stage has been straightforward and I've played a lot of young players. But the team will be more experienced tomorrow."

The boss confirmed Shinji Kagawa is ready to play against Galatasaray after a "slight injury" caused him to be rested for the weekend's win over Wigan Athletic - "he'll be a very important player for us" - while David De Gea has a "strong possibility" of being recalled in place of Anders Lindegaard, who's yet to play a Champions League game at Old Trafford.

As for the opposition, Sir Alex said: "We've watched a lot of video analysis of them. I think there are several points about them... they have two players we know about in [former Arsenal midfielder] Emmanuel Eboue and [ex-Bolton striker] Johan Elmander who played in English football. They have two good central midfielders in Felipe Melo and Selcuk Inan and a centre-forward to look out for in Umut Bulut. [It's a bit like 'bullet' and] that's a good name for a centre-forward!

"I know from experience it's never easy against Turkish teams. It will be a very close game tomorrow."

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