Robinson tries not to add fuel to the fire as speculation mounts

and the staff here that are making it work here.”

They are certainly doing that, with two wins from two following a narrow defeat at Ibrox propelling the Steelmen back into third place ahead of this weekend’s trip to Celtic Park.

Whether they remain there come Monday morning is a different matter but, while Robinson knows there may not be many outside of the Motherwell support that give them a chance, there will be those among their fanbase who will.

“There is always pressure,” he said. “That is the nature of the job. Our fans will expect us to get a result and the expectation levels have risen massively and when you don’t get that there is a fallout.

“Sometimes it is about convincing the players to have the same belief in themselves that I have in them. We are getting there.

“They look at the player next to them and the player on the bench and they think ‘yeah, we might have a chance’. But make no mistake, if we are to get anything at all from Sunday then we need to be at the very top of our game.”

Motherwell were at the very top of their game for parts of the recent match against Rangers in Glasgow, taking the lead at Ibrox and just falling short of at least coming away with a draw.

Robinson is drawing positives, and lessons, from the experience.It will be a very similar challenge against a side on top of their game,” he said.

“We were positive at Ibrox against Rangers and went with two up front and we might do the same again on Sunday or we might go with a 4-3-3. We played that here at home and we were successful with it for a short time.

“But we will definitely go with a positive mindset. If we go with a negative mindset and expect to get beat there is no point turning up.

“We will go and have a right go at it and I’ll try to make sure that there is a belief about the players.”

LADBROKES Premiership manager of the month Angelo Alessio insists he never doubted himself during a tumultuous start to life at Kilmarnock.

The Italian has collected the award for October after Killie claimed three victories during the month.

The summer appointment of Alessio was questioned after he started his reign with a Europa League exit against Welsh side Connah’s Quay Nomads, and then lost to Rangers and Hamilton in his opening two league matches.

But the response was emphatic. Killie only lost to Celtic in their subsequent 10 matches and kept eight clean sheets.

A defensive injury crisis and Alex Bruce’s red card and suspension hindered Killie as they suffered defeats to Motherwell and Aberdeen but Alessio has transformed public perceptions of him.

He said: “I’m very proud of the award because it comes after a difficult start. So I consider it an award shared with my staff and my players and all colleagues at Kilmarnock.

“It was important to work in the right way and believe in my methods. It was a difficult start for many reasons after being eliminated from the Europa League and losing the first two matches. But that’s the past.

Our focus is on the next game.”

Alessio, whose side host Hamilton on Saturday, added: “We were going very well until Motherwell and then had some problems in terms of injuries, which complicated our progress.

“But now we have another important game on Saturday and we can re-start our campaign.”

Alessio admits he has had to adapt his methods to the style the players were accustomed to under Steve Clarke.

““I wanted to change some things about the style,” he said. “but I have to be flexible because I have these players.

“In the future I want to put in place other things I believe.”

Bruce returns from suspension on Saturday while fellow centre-back Dario Del Fabro is back in training after a hamstring lay-off.

But Killie are still reeling from the news this week that Scotland defender Stuart Findlay faces a lengthy spell out with an injury to a tendon in his upper leg.

“It’s complicated but at the moment I can say minimum three months,” Alessio said.