Mark Kennedy said that he was looking to create a team that thrived without the ball as he looks to build towards challenging towards the top of League Two.

Swindon faced Swansea City in a behind-closed-doors friendly last weekend and take on an unnamed Premier League side on Friday afternoon as the team practices playing different types of opponents to hone the new head coach’s style.

Kennedy said that all of the best teams are also the best when they don’t have the ball and he had been pleased by what he saw even in defeat at Swansea with how Swindon looked to set up when they were defending.

He said: “It doesn’t matter who they [Premier League opponents] put out, they will have some great players, it will be similar to Saturday [against Swansea] and I loved Saturday because I really liked what we looked like out-of-possession.

“People get obsessed with possession and I understand that, clearly Swindon are a club that were built on that, but if you don’t have a structure and a DNA out-of-possession, trust me [it won’t go well].

“If you want to talk about the best team in the past, it is Man City, out-of-possession they are the best and I think you have to be excellent at both sides to be successful.

“Saturday’s game was one where I thought I could really enjoy it from an off-the-ball point of view, whereas tonight against a much lesser opposition, I thought in the first 15 minutes we were very poor out-of-possession and our structure wasn’t great, to begin with.

“But I have been really happy [with how the team has taken to implementing the structures so far].”

Kennedy was asked about his touchline demeanour after taking a Swindon team in front of fans for the first time following the victory over Melksham Town.

He said: “I am not a quiet coach on the sideline, I am quite animated, I am in the game and in the moment and I can be quite demanding.

“When you build relationships with players and they understand your love for them and what you are trying to do then there is an understanding.

“There were lots of positives from tonight and I walked away from it thinking we are in a good place and we have a good group of people that we know we are going to add to as well.”