Rooney demands: We must do better

Wayne Rooney says there can be no compromise: Manchester United must improve on last season's showing in the Barclays Premier League.

Louis van Gaal's side get the new season started at lunchtime on Saturday as Swansea visit Old Trafford, and a vast improvement on a disappointing seventh-place league finish last time out is at the forefront of Rooney's mind.

"It has to be better," he said. "There are no two ways about it. We have to improve a lot on last year. We know that as a team and we have been working hard [in pre-season] to make sure we're going to get the right results and I'm sure it will be better.

"We are not a club who will settle for finishing in Europe. We're a club that wants to win trophies and for us it's only a good season if you do that."

The first step towards that would be a winning start against Swansea, and Rooney says that is a must. "It's very important to get a good start," he told Premier League Productions. "We've got a run of games where we feel we can do well, we can pick up maximum points. It's vital we get three points in the first game, then you can pick up momentum from there."

United won six out of six matches in pre-season and look invigorated by new boss van Gaal, of whom Rooney says: "His way of thinking and on the training pitch he demands that every day [everything] is done to the highest level. You can see exactly why he has won trophies wherever he has been. He is a winner, you see that, but he also wants to keep improving and keep his team improving.

"I'm sure he will be very successful as a manager here and that's down to the players as well to take his ideas into the games. I think he can be excellent for us."