Gold Coast United recruit Bas van den Brink believes his new club need to improve further if they want to match it with the best in the A-League.

Despite defeating the New Caledonia national team 5-0 on Saturday, the Dutchman says there is improvement required, especially with such high expectations.

"I thought in the first half the level of our football against New Caledonia wasn't up to A-League standard," he admitted.

"We gave the ball away far too easily, our passing was just astray and we didn't look to have the cohesion we are going to need to be successful.

"We stepped things up in the second half (with United scoring four goals in the final 22 minutes) and showed a few glimpses of what we need to do to get to the level where we are going to be a very competitive team (in 2009-2010).

"You also have to remember we were three or four first-team players short and that you are always going to get hiccups with a new set of players getting to know each other.

"But we also realise that time is running fast now and we have to be ready for August because the expectations are so high around this club."