Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson admits the sacking of Angelo Alessio "scares the life" out of him but also makes him appreciate the support he gets at Fir Park.

Robinson was preparing to go up against the Italian on Saturday when news broke that Antonio Conte's former assistant had been sacked as Kilmarnock manager on Tuesday.

Killie sit fifth in the Ladbrokes Premiership, one place and eight points behind Motherwell, but the Rugby Park board decided their summer appointment had not worked.

Robinson said: "I was very surprised. I don't know the inside of Kilmarnock or what goes on there, it's not my business, but it's always disappointing to see a manager lose his job.

"They are sitting fifth in the table so there didn't seem to be too much the matter there but that's football isn't it? The crazy world of football that we're in.

"It scares the life out of me. You think 'what more do you have to do?'

"I am in a very lucky position in that I have a lot of backing from the board, the fans are incredibly good to me.

"I think most people at Motherwell know the parameters we work under, what we try to achieve and how we try to achieve it. We will go up and down, have bad spells, due to the nature and age of our team.

"But it makes you appreciate what you have got – you have people who are very, very loyal to you and very supportive.

"Everyone can be supportive when you are doing well. At the minute it's all great, but it's when you are not doing well (like) this time last year when I had the full backing of the board and the vast majority of the fans."

Robinson now finds himself going up against a team guided by Alex Dyer, who was assistant manager under Steve Clarke before Alessio came in.

"It changes the parameters slightly," said Robinson, whose team lost 2-0 to Rangers last weekend.

"I know Alex well, he worked under Steve, and perhaps it might be a slightly different approach but it doesn't change the players, there can't be wholesale changes in four or five days.

"As we always do, we will try and impose our game and way of playing and our attacking style.

"They play deeper and let you have a lot of the ball, they are so organised and disciplined. Alex played a massive part in that under Steve so I am sure they will be exactly the same.

"So we have to have our forward players better than we had last Sunday, more aggressive in terms of going at people, better decision-making and more positivity, not playing with a wee bit of fear like I felt we did on Sunday."