Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has told his players that they cannot afford a repeat of last season's slow start in the Premier League when the new campaign kicks off.

The Red Devils lost one and drew two of their first three league games before going on to finish fourth in the final standings.

Van Gaal has said that he has deliberately scaled back the team's pre-season schedule in the hope that it will allow them to make a better start to the new season.

"We only have two base camps, last year we had to fly and fly with different schedules and time zones each time. We have better training camps this year," he told the Manchester Evening News.

"We had fantastic facilities in Seattle, they were superb, and also at Avaya Stadium and Stanford University, where will train two sessions on Monday.

"Overall, we have a better training camp, but we also won every game last year and it doesn't say anything. We lost our first game against Swansea, so despite the results against Club America, San Jose and Barcelona, all that matters is the game against Tottenham Hotspur."

United face Spurs in their league opener on August 8.