Notts County boss Kevin Nolan slams idea of "passing for passing's sake"

Kevin Nolan has stressed that he will not set his Notts County side to be a passing team for the hell of it, without the will to win and getting the basics right.

With three wins on the spin in all competitions, the next test for the Magpies sees them host Accrington Stanley on Friday night.

Nolan has already hit out at those who claim the team is a "hoofball" outfit, and insists that his philosophy is simply about getting the job done instead of showing off a high possession statistic.

“The reason why Manchester United and Chelsea have 500 passes is because once they go 1-0, 2-0 up that’s when they start keeping the ball,” he told the Nottingham Post.

“They move it quickly and you never see United just labour in possession. They put the ball in the right positions at the right times more often than not.

"That’s why they get the success they do because they counter and they counter with pace. It’s something we haven’t got at the minute in terms of the pace, but it’s very hard to get that in this league.

“(Jonathan Forte) has been brilliant in the last couple of games and made some great runs. We have that option, but we always want to play football in the right areas.

“I’ve never been a manager who likes passing it for passing sake. There are managers out there who like to keep it, then look at the possession stats afterwards and say we kept it for 80 percent of the game.

“But I’ve been involved in matches against United, Arsenal etc and they’ve had the ball 75 percent of the game, but we’ve won 1-0.

“That’s the only stat that matters and that’s because we got it right defensively, and we did the basics right. So in that 25 percent possession, we’ve scored a goal.

"Winning the game is more important than anything. The more you do it, the more confident you become. My philosophy is starting to sink in with the players, but we haven’t seen the best of these lads yet.”

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